Follow UsFormer India captain Anil Kumble feels that Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have not utilised Andre Russell in a better way as a batter and that’s precisely the reason for the failure of one of the best all-rounders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history.
"I feel the utilisation of Andre Russell hasn't been really great from a KKR standpoint. I think Russell should bat higher. He should certainly get more opportunities. Just look at the one that they lost to Punjab,” Kumble said in an interaction with broadcaster JioHotstar.
“I think in the dugout, ideally at that point, you would say, okay, Andre Russell, you go and just finish this game early. If you get on the first ball, it doesn't matter. We still have batting in hand," he added.
Russell has batted at number seven in five games of IPL 2025 and in one game where he batted number six, he scored 21, his highest score of the season. In two matches, he was made to bat at even eight.
In his entire IPL career, the Jamaican has batted mostly at number seven in 42 matches and has averaged 37 with the bat at that position. But in the five matches that he has batted at number three, Russell has an average of 42 and a strike rate of 196.
Kumble feels that in matches which are tight and low-scoring, Russell should come up in the order to finish them quickly, and if he fails, it would not matter as they would have better batters later in the order to get the game done.
"But that didn't happen. By the time Russell came, he had to bat with the bowlers. And even in the last game, by the time Russell came, I think the contest was over, 17 and a half, 18 runs and over. It may happen once in 10 games or once in 20 games. It can't happen every time. So that's something that I think KKR need to figure out," said the man who has coached Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL.