Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 19 runs at iconic Eden Gardens on April 14 (Friday). Chasing 229 for the win, Kolkata's batters showed great resilience before ultimately falling 19-run short of the target. Meanwhile, Andre Russell, one of the most dangerous hitters in T20 format, continued his poor form in IPL 2023. The hard-hitting all-rounder returned back to the KKR dugout after scoring just 3 runs off 6 deliveries. So far this season, Russell has scored only 39 runs from his 4 IPL innings for Kolkata Knight Riders.
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In an interaction with Cricbuzz, Virender Sehwag recalled an important piece of advice he gave to Andre Russell in 2018.
"I told Russell (in 2018) to go domestic cricket and open. if you get success as an opener then you will become a million-dollar boy. And he did that. He opened in CPL, scored a century in one of the games and messaged me, But he was the captain there, the biggest player. He can take such risks and calls of opening the batting. But can he do the same in KKR? This will have to be decided by the coaching staff and captain," Sehwag exclusively told Cricbuzz.
"He has no problems against fast bowlers, it's the spinners that can get him into trouble but if he gets set while opening the batting then he will get a lot more balls to play and he can become even more dangerous,” Sehwag said.
“Who is the chase master? Virat Kohli. Where does he bat for RCB? Doesn't he finish matches? Andre Russell can do that too. But KKR will have to take that risk. Will he be able to survive the new ball? If yes, then try him as an opener,” he added.