Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has praised Andre Russell for his a match-winning all-round performance for the Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL 2022 match against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). Russell smashed an unbeaten 49 off just 28 balls to help KKR set a 178-run target for them. He then claimed three wickets with the ball to guide the team to a comfortable win.
While reviewing the KKR-SRH clash in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra said: “Andre in, ball out and then Andre in, batter out. I mean Andre Russell won the Russell vs Hyderabad match and he totally destroyed them. KKR are playing with just five bowlers but Andre does the bowler’s job as well and the batter’s job also. Andre Russell is absolutely gold dust. It has to be without doubt Russell. Andre did an amazing job. We praise Kane (Williamson) so much as a captain, that he is a strategist and understands the game very well tactically but two consecutive faux pas’ against the same team, they were not mistakes but faux pas.”
Aakash Chopra has also said that the SRH captain repeated his earlier mistake of bowling a spinner against Russell in the final over of the KKR innings as well and he used the opportunity.
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“You get Jagadeesha Suchith to bowl the last over once and the second time you get Washington Sundar to bowl and both times Russell is in front of you. You can get rid of the spinner’s over at any time but you are not able to do that, why I may ask. Russell made 49 runs in the last match as well (against SRH) and here also 49 runs. He probably hit two sixes in the last over there and here he hit three sixes. The team reached 177 because of Andre Russell. After that Russell comes to bowl, first dismisses Kane and then picks up two more wickets. He is simply phenomenal. They were 94/5 at one stage, he took them to 177 and then picks up three wickets as well,” Aakash Chopra further added.
He also previewed the contest LSG vs RR on his YouTube channel and Chopra urged Sanju Samson not to repeat his mistake from the last match. Notably, Hetmyer was unavailable for the game against Delhi and it remains uncertain about his availability.
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“Rajasthan are a good team but they have stumbled a bit of late. In their last match, their batting order went awry. Sanju Samson cannot bat so low down in the order. Even if Shimron Hetmyer was not there, this move was like shooting yourself in the foot. Yashasvi Jaiswal is batting well. Jos Buttler fell cheaply in the last game, so RR will expect runs from him this time. Also, if Hetmyer is available, they can send him higher in the order, above Devdutt Padikkal. It all depends on the game situation and how many overs are left,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
