IPL 2021: Andre Russell hits powerful straight shot in practice match, forces Karthik to jump to save himself - WATCH

The explosive Windies batsman stayed rooted to his crease and smacked the ball right past the bowler and almost took out his own teammate in the process.

Ahead of the commencement of the new Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) season, Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Andre Russell showed a glimpse of how he would want the upcoming season to pan out. During an intra-squad match at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, one of Russell's shots forced former skipper Dinesh Karthik to take evasive action.

Andre Russell during KKR's practice game (screengrab)(Twitter)

In a video uploaded by the official Twitter handle of the Kolkata franchise on Saturday night, Russell was seen facing a pacer with Karthik at the non-striker's end. The explosive Windies batsman stayed rooted to his crease and smacked the ball right past the bowler and almost took out his own teammate in the process.

Karthik showed great reflexes to jump sideways and get out of the ball's path. He got back and up and completed the run.

The caption of the video in the tweet read: "Andre. DK. Watch the Knights get competitive in a practice game LIVE from DY Patil Stadium. @Russell12A @DineshKarthik #KKRHaiTaiyaar #IPL2021."

WATCH| Russell forces Karthik to take evasive action

Wicketkeeper-batsman Karthik was the highest scorer in the match, scoring 90. While Ben Cutting led one side, the other was captained by Shubman Gill.

Gill and Co., courtesy Karthik, put on 175. Cutting's team chased down the target with seven balls to seven balls to spare.

Seifert, who joined the KKR squad as a replacement for the injured Ali Khan last season, was the star performer for the team batting second as the target was overhauled.

Two-time champions KKR haven't made the playoffs for the last two years and finished fifth in the table on both occasions.

The onus will be on Eoin Morgan, who was handed the reins of the team mid-way through IPL 2020, to take lead his team from the start and help them join an elite club of teams with three or more titles. Currently, only Mumbai Indians (five) and Chennai Super Kings (three) are part of the list.

KKR will begin their campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 11.