IPL 2019 | Wouldn’t mind batting at No. 4, reveals Andre Russell

Kolkata Knight Riders were chasing 214 against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Eden Gardens yesterday and fell short by 10 runs. However, it was another blistering knock by Russell that kept the home team in the hunt even in the final over of the game with Nitish Rana, who got unbeaten 85 off 46, batting at the other end. The hard-hitting batsman came out to bat at No. 6 yesterday but still got 65 and pulled out Kolkata from a terrible situation.

When Russell was asked about batting higher up in the order for KKR, he replied that he wouldn’t mind come out at the no. 4 position for the Knight Riders.

"I believe that (on batting higher up the order). Honestly, you have to sometimes be flexible as a team. When you look at the make-up of our team, I wouldn't mind going to bat at No. 4,” Russell was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

"Because I believe that once I'm at the crease, Virat Kohli will bowl the best bowlers to get me out, and those best bowlers will, therefore, have less overs remaining in the back end. So even if I score 60 off 25 balls and give the team the early pump, then the type of bowlers like Dale Steyn will have only one over to bowl at the death, or they maybe are even bowled out. So, I think me going to bat early would definitely be good for KKR, but with our make-up as a team, I don't think it's a good time, at the moment. Because for me to bat in the back-end and know what I can do in four or five overs but..."

After Chris Lynn’s early dismissal in the first over, Shubman Gill was asked to come in at the third position and Uthappa joined Gill after Narine got out. Both the batsmen looked terrible in the middle for the home team. Gill played nine deliveries while Uthappa faced 20 during his stay in the middle while not contributing too many runs. Russell talked about his conversation with Rana during the run-chase and also said that it was important to bat faster in the middle overs.

"Look, we were chasing 214 runs and weren't in the best state when I went out to bat. When Nitish (Rana) asked what I thought, I said 'Yo, I bat only one way - and that's positive. So if the ball is in my slot, first ball, I don't need to see what's happening,” the West Indian all-rounder explained.

"(But) to go out there and chasing 14-15 per over, it's not the best way you want to start as a batsman. I'm used to these situations, but why I say it's a sweet and sour feeling is because we need to learn from this as a team. We need to learn that we can get 214. And to lose by 10 runs, well, we were just two hits away. In the middle period if we batted faster, we would definitely get the runs with even balls to spare. Well batted to Nitish, but this is something [of concern].”