Published 18:42 IST, December 11th 2020
Windies power-hitter Andre Russell opens up on his forgettable Dream11 IPL 2020 campaign
Windies power-hitter Andre Russell opened up on what went wrong for him in the Dream11 IPL 2020 where he had represented the two-time winners Kolkata
West Indies power-hitter Andre Russell has said that nothing had gone his way after his forgettable outing in the Dream11 IPL 2020. Russell, who had an outstanding season in 2019 with 510 runs and 11 scalps to his name was retained by the two-time winners Kolkata and was expected to repeat his heroics in the 13th edition of the marquee tournament that was held in the UAE but he could hardly manage to make any impact.
There was no 'Russell- Mania' in the 2020 edition as the Caribbean all-rounder finished the competition with a meager 117 runs along with six wickets from the 10 matches that he had got to feature in.
'Nothing was going my way': Andre Russell
“I changed my stance, I changed my technique, I changed my trigger movement, all these things I changed just to score runs in IPL, and nothing was going my way. The pressure was real. I’m a tough player, and I didn’t know I could actually feel what happened during this year’s IPL. And I just wanted everything to go quickly behind me,” said Russell while speaking to Jamaica-based TV network SportsMax.
Kolkata in Dream11 IPL 2020
The two-time champions had blown hot and cold in the 13th edition of the marquee tournament. They did manage to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in two successive games but at the same time, also suffered bitter defeats at the hands of Bangalore in both their league games against the three-time finalists (by 82 runs & 8 wickets respectively).
In their final league match, they faced the 2008 champions Rajasthan in what was a virtual quarterfinal that they went on to win by a huge margin of 60 runs after which their playoff chances relied on the final match of the league stages between Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Unfortunately, lady luck did not smile on them as the Orange Army decimated Rohit Sharma & Co. by 10 wickets to secure a fifth straight playoff berth while Kolkata were left to lick their wounds after being knocked out. The Eoin Morgan-led side finished the tournament at the fifth position with 14 points from the same number of matches.
Updated 18:42 IST, December 11th 2020