Jamaican all-rounder Andre Russell heaped praise on the “fearless” quality of Rinku Singh saying that the underrated batter is increasingly becoming the game-changer for Kolkata Knight Riders.
Russell himself made a great return to form with a whirlwind 42 (in 23 balls), setting the stage for KKR’s five-wicket win against Punjab Kings on Monday night at Eden Gardens, but it was Rinku Singh who earned the victory with a last-ball boundary. This happened after Russell was run out in the penultimate ball of the KKR innings, leaving Rinku with the task of scoring the winning runs in the last ball of the innings.
“Rinku, who has been successful in the last few games for us, is just a fearless player. Wherever you bowl, he has a shot to counter that. I told him we need you, and we need you at this point, and he said ‘big man no worries,’” Russell said.
“I am not sure whether I would have attempted a run in any other game, with any other batter on the opposite end. I have never really done those things before, as I would back myself to bat till the last delivery and get the job done. But when you have a batter like Rinku at the other end, you can take risks,” added Russell as he spoke of the way things turned out for KKR in the last over of PBKS pacer Arshdeep Singh.
Speaking about the way he hit three mighty sixes in the penultimate over of Sam Curran, Russell said he just tried to keep the run chase down to a minimum in the last over.
“I was just thinking about getting three boundaries in that over to make sure that we go into the last over with the fewest runs as Arshdeep is a very good death bowler.
Two-three dot balls could have changed the game. So, we were thinking about getting as many runs as possible in that over. Six (runs) off six (balls) was ideal for us in the last over,” he said.
Russell said that he tries to think like a bowler when batting and that helped him fire those sixes against Curran. “Curran was hitting on to my body, and I hit two sixes on the longer area. I think like a bowler while batting as I knew he was not going to bowl in that area again. He had to do something else,” the gutsy Jamaican all-rounder said. “The short ball he bowled (fourth delivery) I missed. He then bowled a slower cutter into the wicket, and I just gave myself that little room and used my hands to get it over the field. That was the smaller side (of Eden Gardens boundary) as well,” Russell said of his third six, which he sliced over backward point.
“I could make out the opposition team’s plan and was able to conquer it. T20 is tough, and you just need to stay as calm as possible both as bowlers and batters in any situation,” Russell remarked about the mindset with which he looks to approach this format of Cricket.
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