As Chennai Super Kings take on Kolkata Knight Riders today, the big question will be how the CSK’s captain MS Dhoni will stop KKR’s Russell.
In this IPL 2019, Andre Russell has played the major role in the victories of KKR. He also won four ‘Man of the Match’ awards for his extraordinarily outstanding performance. He literally muscled every single bowler to turn the result towards the favour of KKR.
His 207 runs have come at a strike rate of 268.83 with a boundary every 2.6 deliveries.
Despite having a lot of tricks of his own under his hat, Dhoni for sure will try to do the following.
1. Saving Imran Tahir for Russell:
The Dre Russ has been knocking down every single bowler but comparatively, he has struggled against the Leg-Spin. I repeat, comparatively.
Russell has managed only 101 runs off 79 deliveries against the leg-spin since the start of 2015. Also, he got out four times to leg-spinners.
Considering the fact that Tahir has been in great form and has shown variations. He not only is among the wickets but also has maintained an economy under six. Now, that makes an interesting match-up.
Russell, for sure, will try to hit Tahir and might succeed as well but Tahir will be threatening no matter what.
2. Aiming for Blockhole
So far, not many or literally none has tried to exploit his weakness to the blockhole deliveries. There were two instances which proved that he is not a great fan of yorkers. One was during when Mohammed Shami came around the wickets, bowled a yorker that cleaned him up. Unfortunately, that was a no-ball.
The other delivery that stood out was the one from Kagiso Rabada where he once again came around the wickets, hit the length right, damaging the middle stump during the super over.
Chennai Super Kings will heavily depend on their pacers to pull it off. Scott Kuggeleijn or Deepak Chahar will be the bowler they will be hoping to produce a similar delivery.
Of Course, for a great captain Dhoni is, he very well knows to play mind games against players like Russell and that has worked out in big time for him.
Will Russell break all the CSK plans? Can he turn successful here as well?
Let’s wait and watch.
