Andre Russell completes 100 IPL matches for Kolkata Knight Riders

KOLKATA: West Indies and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder Andre Russell reached the 100th-match mark for Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Saturday.

The 35-year-old all-rounder accomplished this milestone during his side’s IPL 2023 match against Gujarat Titans at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

The West Indies star made his IPL debut back in 2012 for Delhi Capitals (formerly known as Delhi Daredevils) and represented the franchise till 2013. His stay with the franchise was underwhelming and he played just seven matches, scoring 58 runs in four innings and taking a wicket.

But since 2014, Russell has been playing for KKR and has become one of the team’s marquee players since then. He won the IPL 2014 title with the side.

For KKR, in the 99 matches and 86 innings he has played so far, Russell has scored 2,085 runs at an average of 30.21. He has scored 10 half-centuries for the side, with the best score of 88*. He has also taken 93 wickets for the franchise, with best bowling figures of 5/15.

In his entire IPL career, Russell has played 106 matches so far. He has scored 2,143 runs at an average of 29.35. He has scored 10 half-centuries, with the best score of 88*. He has also taken 94 wickets for the side, with best bowling figures of 5/15.

Russell’s most successful season was in 2019. He scored 510 runs in 14 innings at an average of 56.66 and a massive strike rate of 204.81. Four half-centuries came out of his bat in that season, with a best individual score of 80*. He also took 11 wickets that season, with an average of 26.09 and an economy rate of 9.51. His best bowling figures in that edition of the league were 2/21. He was declared as the ‘Most Valuable Player’ that season.

Coming to the match, Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to field against Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League 2023 match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday.

KKR in-form batter Jason Roy will miss the match due to a back issue and Rahmanullah Gurbaz will replace him. Harshit Rana would play in the place of Umesh Yadav for Kolkata. Gujarat will play with the same playing XI as in the last match.

KKR are placed in 7th position in the points table with three wins and five losses, while GT is in the third spot with five wins and two losses.

Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Wriddhiman Saha(w), Abhinav Manohar, Hardik Pandya(c), Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, Joshua Little.

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): N Jagadeesan, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, David Wiese, Shardul Thakur, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy.