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IANS
Kolkata
Iconic all-rounder and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach Jacques Kallis on Monday said that Andre Russell was one of the most powerful hitters he has seen.
KKR rode on Russell’s whirlwind unbeaten 19-ball 49 to chase down a 182-run target to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a thrilling Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Russell walked in with 68 runs still needed off 27 balls. The big-hitting Caribbean all-rounder first hit Siddharth Kaul for 19 runs in the 18th over and smashed 21 more off death-over specialist Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 19th to steer KKR home with two balls to spare.
“In terms of finishing, he is one of the most powerful hitters that I have seen,” Kallis told reporters at the Jadavpur University second campus ground.
”It was a good knock. He timed it well. And there were issues, the light wasn’t incredible. But it was some of the best ball striking I have seen in a long time,” said the former South Africa all-rounder.
KKR will next take on Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday, a team that boasts of Chris Gayle.
Asked to compare Russell with Gayle, Kallis said: “He is certainly up there. It’s a very different role when you are batting down the order at No. 6, 7 or 8 as compared to to facing the new ball. So it’s difficult to compare new ball batters with old ball batsmen.”
Kallis said that the KKR dressing room always believed that they can chase the total down on Sunday, even when the equation was 53 to get from 18 deliveries.
“I have seen him (Russell) go about his business. So as long as he was in there, hitting as well as he was, we were always in with a chance. It needed to be a special knock and it was.”
He also praised Shubman Gill who hit two sixes in the last over off Shakib Al Hasan. “I’m happy with the way Gilly (Shubman Gill) played too. He showed a lot of maturity,” said Kallis.
Kolkata
Iconic all-rounder and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach Jacques Kallis on Monday said that Andre Russell was one of the most powerful hitters he has seen.
KKR rode on Russell’s whirlwind unbeaten 19-ball 49 to chase down a 182-run target to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a thrilling Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Russell walked in with 68 runs still needed off 27 balls. The big-hitting Caribbean all-rounder first hit Siddharth Kaul for 19 runs in the 18th over and smashed 21 more off death-over specialist Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 19th to steer KKR home with two balls to spare.
“In terms of finishing, he is one of the most powerful hitters that I have seen,” Kallis told reporters at the Jadavpur University second campus ground.
”It was a good knock. He timed it well. And there were issues, the light wasn’t incredible. But it was some of the best ball striking I have seen in a long time,” said the former South Africa all-rounder.
KKR will next take on Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday, a team that boasts of Chris Gayle.
Asked to compare Russell with Gayle, Kallis said: “He is certainly up there. It’s a very different role when you are batting down the order at No. 6, 7 or 8 as compared to to facing the new ball. So it’s difficult to compare new ball batters with old ball batsmen.”
Kallis said that the KKR dressing room always believed that they can chase the total down on Sunday, even when the equation was 53 to get from 18 deliveries.
“I have seen him (Russell) go about his business. So as long as he was in there, hitting as well as he was, we were always in with a chance. It needed to be a special knock and it was.”
He also praised Shubman Gill who hit two sixes in the last over off Shakib Al Hasan. “I’m happy with the way Gilly (Shubman Gill) played too. He showed a lot of maturity,” said Kallis.
