Kolkata Knight Riders’ chief mentor David Hussey said that star all-rounder Andre Russell is recovering from his injury and “might be in the mix” for the IPL final against Chennai Super Kings.  The West Indies player had suffered a grade two hamstring injury during the round robin stage. 

“He was bowling before the game (against DC) today, so he might be in the mix,” Hussey said at the post-match press conference after KKR’s win over Delhi Capitals. 

Andre Russell has scored 183 runs in nine innings this season at an average of 26.14. He has taken 11 wickets at an average of 17.09 and an economy rate just shy of 10. With Russell being benched, Shakib Al Hasan had got a place in the playing 11. The Bangladesh player has picked four wickets in seven games at an economy rate of 6.69. 

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Chasing 136 runs against the Delhi Capitals, the KKR needed Rahul Tripathi’s six off the penultimate delivery of the final over to seal the game. The team had lost six wickets in 3.5 overs with only seven runs added. 

“No, I’m not concerned because they’re all classy players. They know how to play. (It) is just the difficult nature of these pictures, they have been playing on, makes the middle of players, sort of stand out, they are not getting their strike rate 200,” Hussey referred to the collapse.

“They had to knuckle down and maybe a strike rate of 110-120, so not concerned, we are going to Dubai full of confidence and you just never know what’s going to happen,” he added.

Also read: IPL 2021: Kolkata Knight Riders’ road to the final

Venkatesh Iyer’s brilliant half century and Shubman Gill’s 46-run knock laid the foundation for KKR before the dramatic collapse. But Hussey sounded optimistic going into the final.

“… Full credit to (KKR skipper Eoin) Morgan, (we have) full confidence in Morgan, Dinesh Karthik and Shakib (Al Hasan) going in the next game. They have done it countless times for their countries and in the IPL. So, we’re looking forward to the next game,” the chief mentor said.

Hussey also informed that all-rounder Shakib was available for selection in the final. “He (Shakib) is a fine player, has probably won us two games or contributed to two wins, so I’d like to think he is available, and I think, everybody’s going to be available for selection, so it’s going be a tough call by the head coach (Brandon McCullum),” said Hussey.

Hussey praised Iyer, who plays for Madhya Pradesh in domestic cricket, and also his partnership with Gill.

“We have found a player in Venkatesh Iyer, not only he is a classy player but he is a wonderful person and team man as well. He struck the ball superbly and from ball one, so I think some of these big sixes that he hit actually changed the tempo of the game and got us into a winning position,” said Hussey.

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Opener Venkatesh Iyer was named the player of the match for scoring a half-century. He and Shubman Gill stitched a 96-run stand in the first 12.2 overs. 

“Furthermore, the opening partnership we had between those two players was just class personified. They complement each other really well, if one player is going, the other one sits back and gives the other person the strike. And I think they run between the wickets really well. So, we have definitely found a nice opening partnership there and hopefully continues for one more game,” Hussey added.

“Shubman is a class player, everyone knows he is going to be a 10-year veteran of Test match, ODI and T20 cricket for India,” he said.

“McCullum should get credit for the team’s turnaround after it was languishing at the seventh spot at the end of the first leg in India.”