Andre Russell was one of the key contributors for Kolkata Knight Riders, scoring a 25-ball 57, as his team beat Rajasthan Royals by one run here on Sunday.
Backing the Caribbean, spinner Varun Chakaravarthy revealed that the 37-year-old aspired to continue playing for a few more years.
“As far as I have spoken to him and interacted with him, he still wants to play another two-three (auction) cycles of the IPL, which is easily six more years. He looks fine and fit. It doesn’t matter how old you are,” said Varun.
Varun, who took two wickets, rejected the notion that Russell could not play spin well.
“If you are able to contribute to the team, that’s enough in a franchise. He made that choice not to attack the spinners. But that’s not the truth that he can’t hit spin. He can hammer spin,” he said.
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According to Varun, such tight matches would give KKR momentum and self-belief.
“This is exactly what we needed. I am hopeful that we can pull off the next three matches. We have done it before.”
RR’s batting coach Vikram Rathore regretted that his team’s batters could not finish the match.
“Today, we gave maybe 15-20 extra runs. Riyan (Parag) got us into a position where we should have won as well. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish off,” said Rathore.
Rathore said even though individually the RR players did well but collectively they could not.