IPL 2020: ‘Nothing was going my way, pressure was real’ - Andre Russell on what went wrong in UAE

Speaking in a recent interaction, Russell said that he was not in the right mindset during the course of the tournament and also likened the experience of living in a bio-bubble to being in a prison.

The Kolkata Knight Riders allrounder Andre Russell was expected to take the UAE by storm with his big shots during Indian Premier League 2020. But the explosive batsman faced a hard time in the IPL, as he struggled to get runs on the board. Russell managed to get starts - showcasing that he still has the ability to hit the big shots. But he failed to capitalise on the starts, and could not save KKR’s campaign.

File image of Andre Russell.(File/IPL)

Speaking in a recent interaction, Russell said that he was not in the right mindset during the course of the tournament and also likened the experience of living in a bio-bubble to being in a prison.

“I changed my stance, I changed my technique, I changed my trigger movement, all these things I changed just to score runs in IPL and nothing was going my way,” Russell told a Jamaica-based TV network SportsMax.

The pressure was real. I’m a tough player, and I didn’t know I could actually feel what happened during this year’s IPL. And I just wanted everything to go quickly behind me,” he added.

“Coming from a bubble in Trinidad [for CPL], come straight into Abu Dhabi [in IPL], days on days, you can only go to practise, and come back to the hotel and your room. You can close your eyes and go to the bathroom, but there is nowhere else to go,” Russell said.

“I get out of the bubble. I go to Dubai, have a good time, drink, party, loosen myself. I feel alive. When you feel like you’re coming out of prison, it’s like. I’ve never been to prison, but this lockdown actually felt ‘oh my god, I can’t do whatever I want to do’,” he further added.

KKR finished at the 5th position in the table as Mumbai Indian went on to lift the trophy for the record-extending fifth time.