IPL 2019 | There’s more to KKR than just Andre Russell, claims Stephen Fleming

Kolkata Knight Riders put in an all-round performance on Sunday night to register a crucial win against Ajinkya Rahane-led Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Three points in Jaipur ensured that Dinesh Karthik & Co. were bumped up to the top of the IPL rankings table having lost just one game so far. As KKR travelled to Chennai to take on the defending champions on Tuesday, CSK coach Stephen Fleming agreed that KKR all-rounder Andre Russell’s red-hot form makes him the dangerman but the Chennai team will prepare for the rest of the batting line-up as well.

“Possibly, there are a couple of challenges. One is you ignore the other six (batsmen). And in a team that has (Chris) Lynn, (Dinesh) Karthik and (Robin) Uthappa you do that at your own peril. We’ve got to be careful we don’t focus overtly on Russell.

“Even though he has been so dynamic, there’s still good work done by the other players. So, again, I stress it doesn’t change our preparation to focus on one or two players, but we’re acutely aware of how dangerous these players are so, it’s business as usual for us,” Fleming said at the press conference ahead the match against KKR.

The former Kiwi skipper further added that whether it is spin or seam, one had to be accurate against big-hitters like Russell. Russell has scored a total of 207 runs from five matches at a strike rate of 268.83.

“You’ve got to put context around that as well different stages of the game. Look at analysis and match up with what you have, it’s no secret that we’re spin-heavy anyway. So, if there’s an opportunity to change-up to Russell, we will certainly look at it

“Whether it’s spin or seam at the end you’ve to be accurate against hitters like Russell, Dhoni, Pollard and Pandya. It’s no different really, the pressure is always on in the last few overs,” Fleming added.