While the exact extent of Andre Russell’s injury is not yet confirmed, Kolkata Knight Riders team mentor David Hussey has informed that the premier all-rounder “felt something pop in his leg” as he completed his fielding save in the IPL 2021 match against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.
Hussey strongly indicated that Russell has picked up a hamstring issue after the Jamaican made a valiant attempt to save a boundary at the mid-wicket region but left the field in angst and pain only moments later during the 17th over of the game against CSK in Abu Dhabi.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Hussey said “it is too early to tell” what has exactly happened but added, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo, that:
”He (Russell) said he felt something pop in his leg, his hamstring.
We’ve got the best medical staff in the business so they’ll tend to him and hopefully it’s nothing too serious, because he’s a key part of our team.”
Russell has been an integral part of the KKR side, with his all-round prowess, the ability to hit the long ball and bowl right-arm pace, helping them plug a major hole in both departments.
On the day, Hussey suggested, Russell’s injury meant that he could not bowl the 19th over when KKR needed to defend 26 off the last 12 balls.
The untimely injury meant that KKR had to go with their talented, but inexperienced and inconsistent speedster Prasidh Krishna, whose expensive set of six balls against a rampaging Ravindra Jadeja brought the equation down to four off six balls. KKR ultimately lost the game.
Worryingly for the two-time champions, Russell has had a persistent issue with his right leg and its knee for a couple of seasons now. The last thing they would want, as they strive to keep themselves in the playoffs race, is for their pivotal star to have done excessive damage making a fielding attempt and be ruled out of the tournament.
Russell has scored 183 runs at a strike-rate of 152.50 and has taken 11 wickets from his 10 innings in this year’s edition of the IPL.
