Former KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir has made a big statement on all-rounder Andre Russell ahead o a new season in the IPL. The all-rounder was retained by the franchise despite his worst season for the franchise last year. Russell scored 117 runs 10 games and picked up six wickets in 2020. He scored over 500 runs the season before and hit more than 50 sixes in the season alone. However, Gambhir has made a big prediction on the all-rounder.

Talking to Star Sports, Gautam Gambhir said that Andre Russell might not play all the matches for his side in the upcoming season.

Gautam Gambhir On Andre Russell

“I doubt he will be able to play 14 games. Yes, you do get fit for IPL, that’s his priority at the moment but again, you need a back up for someone like him, especially given question mark over Sunil Narine’s action which was there the last time around as well,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.

Gambhir further said that it was good to see Kolkata Knight Riders not leave out Russell despite a bad season last year.

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“One good thing is that they did not release too many players after not that successful season. KKR, they don’t need to fill a lot of gaps but they actually need a backup for Andre Russell because he has got serious injury issues” Gambhir added.

Unlike other franchises, KKR released only five players in the retention window. Tom Banton, Chris Green, Nikhil Naik, Siddharth M and Siddhesh Lad are the players who were released by the franchise ahead of the auctions. They decided to retain Dinesh Karthik despite a poor season and keep Eoin Morgan as the skipper of the team for the next season.

They head into the auction with a purse of 10.85 crores and Gambhir believes the franchise needs to invest in good, domestic players since KKR do not have the best group of Indian players.

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