IPL 2020: ‘As soon as my blood’s getting hot, I’m getting out’ - Andre Russell reflects on his cameo against RR

Andre Russell struck three sixes, two of which came in a row to reach 25, his highest score of the season, but just when he looked set to bring out the Russell of old, he perished, hitting a wide yorker to Ben Stokes at deep backward point.

Andre Russell finally recovered from a hamstring injury he sustained while fielding against Kings XI Punjab on October 18 and made it to Kolkata Knight Riders’ Playing XI against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday, but the all-rounder revealed that the injury looked a lot worse at first.

Andre Russell (Twitter)

Russell’s injury kept him out of action for nearly two weeks that saw him miss four matches for KKR. Fortunately for him and KKR, Russell’s recovery has come at the right time, but if the initial reports were to be believed, the all-rounder said he was expected to take a lot longer to get back to match fitness. (Full coverage of IPL 2020)

“It’s a good feeling to be back on the field. It’s been a tough two weeks doing rehab three times a day was a bit painful. But, I’m happy that I’m back,” Russell revealed. “It’s a grade two hamstring tear which usually takes 8 weeks to heal. The scan was very ugly. With KKR physio and doctors around me, it helped. I was bowling a few walk upon balls before the game tonight, and it felt good.”

Russell looked set to make his return special. Out of form in the IPL with just 96 runs from nine matches prior to Sunday’s game, Russell looked in fine touch during his innings. He struck three sixes, two of which came in a row to reach 25, his highest score of the season, but just when he looked set to bring out the Russell of old, he perished, hitting a wide yorker to Ben Stokes at deep backward point.

“As soon as I sweat and my blood’s getting hot, I’m getting out,” he said.

Russell admitted that he won’t risk his hamstring and will wait on resuming bowling duties for KKR, who, with a 60-run win over RR have kept their playoff chances alive. With two games to go, KKR will be keen to follow what transpires between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals and later between Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad to get a clear picture as to which three teams will join MI in the playoffs.

“When it (hamstring) is feeling good, that’s when it’s healing, and I don’t want to disturb the healing process. We have a good bowling (attack), so I can chip in with the yorkers at the backend, but for now I’m going to take one game at a time,” Russell said.

“We were waiting for the cricket gods to work things out for us. I watch each and every game. We play against each other, two games against the same team in a season. So, I watch on the phone what the bowlers do and the batters do.”