Srinagar: West Indies legend and current Kolkatta Knight Riders mentor has slammed the senior players of the side Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane and other batters for the continuous struggle.
Russll stuttered to 21 off 15 balls, where he struggled to hit the ball against Gujarat Titans’ spinners Sai Kishore and Rashid Khan. He has crossed the double figures only twice in the six matches he has batted this year, and his struggles against wrist spinners have been quite glaring.
When former West Indies all-rounder and the current KKR mentor Dwayne Bravo was questioned about Russell’s struggles in the 18th season, he said DreRuss is not the only KKR batter struggling for runs.
“Andre Russell is an experienced and successful player. Yes, in a couple of games, the leg-spinners got him out. But I don’t think we are batting well as a team. That is the reality. Russell is not the only one struggling. As a group, we have to ensure players are backed. We need to keep preparing well. IPL is a tough tournament. If you don’t start well, batters can go into a period where they lose confidence,” Bravo told reporters at the Eden Gardens after KKR lost to GT by 39 runs on Monday.
Bravo said Russell’s struggles against the wrist spinners are nothing to be worried about. Instead, the KKR top-order should take the onus on themselves to provide good starts to make the job easier for finishers like Russell and Rinku Singh.
“Not every team has leg-spinners and today he was up against a quality spinner like Rashid Khan. When Russell walks in to bat, every time the run rate is at 14 or 15 runs per over. Work needs to be done at the top to give him a chance to finish off games like he has been doing all these years for KKR. Yes, leg-spinners got him out a few times, but I don’t think that is a big concern. We just need to bat better (at the top) to allow our finishers the chance to finish games,” Bravo said.
