In modern-day cricket, there are few players are there who have got the capability to turn the tide on its own and the West Indian prodigy is one of them.
The Superstar is lethal with his bat and ball on the pitch and he has also got the brute force to smash any bowler out of the park in any stadium around the world and also he can be plucked some crucial wickets whenever the ball was given to him.
Andre Russell Biography:
Andre Russell is one of the most devastating and powerful cricketers that West Indian cricket has ever produced. He is any captain’s paradise- A destructive batsman, a smart bowler, and an excellent fielder.
Andre Russell Biography covers his entire journey as a cricketer and also the ups and downs of his career.
Andre Russell Family:
Andre Russell was born on 29th April, 1988 in Kingston, Jamaica. Andre Russell is one of the five children of his parents Dwayne Russell and Sandra Davis. He came from a poor background and showed the world of cricket that only thing you require to become successful is hard work.
Andre Russell got married to his long time girlfriend Jassym Lora in 2016. Russell and Lora welcomed their first daughter Aaliyah Russell in January 2020.
Key Points:
- Andre Russell was born on 29th April 1988 in Kingston.
- Andre Russell is one of the fifth members of his family.
- In 2016 he married his long time girlfriend Jassym Lora.
- In 2020, Both Russell and Lora Welcomed their first child Aaliyah Russell.
Andre Russell Career:
The superstar has a quite indifferent career than most of the sought after cricket players nowadays, as in his career he has only represented his country only once in the longer format of the game and he has earned his name in the limited over cricket and particularly in the shortest format of the game.
In his career, he has also won the T20 world cup trophy with his country by defeating the English side in the Final at India and he has demonstrated some Scintillating performance for his country in the world cup.
Early career:
He started playing for Jamaica very early in his career. He played as an all-rounder all his career. Later, he also started playing for English county cricket. In 2010 he played at Barnards Green Cricket Club in Worcestershire, England, helping them secure promotion from Worcestershire Cricket League into Birmingham League cricket.
After some good domestic performances and good performance in English county cricket, he was included in the West Indian squad which was going to play against Sri Lanka.
Test career:
Andre Russell West Indies debut was made during a test match against Sri Lanka in November 2010. He scored 2 runs in the match and picked up 1 wicket in the match.
Every International cricketer would dream of playing Test match cricket for their national side and perform well. Unfortunately for Andre Russell it was the only Test match he has played in his career. Whether the decision of Dre Russ not playing Test cricket was voluntary or he never got a chance to play again will remain a mystery.
Key Points:
- Russell made his test debut against Sri Lanka in 2010.
- In his career, he has only one test match for his country.
- In his first test match, his performance was poor for his side.
One Day cricket:
Andre Russell cricketer debuted in International cricket at the age of 22. He debuted against Ireland in the World Cup 2011. It was not a great debut for Russell as he scored 3 runs and picked up 1 wicket.
The next match he played was a great one for him. West Indies was playing against England in the World Cup and England elected to bat first after winning the toss.
West Indies did a brilliant job in restricting England to an achievable 243 runs. Andre Russell cricket player picked up 4 wickets in the innings. While chasing West Indies was reduced to 150/6 when Russell came into bat. He scored a good 49 runs off 46 balls but failed to win the match for West Indies as they lost the match by just 18 runs with over 5 overs remaining.
Few months later he registered his highest One Day score of 92* against India. In the 3rd ODI of the bilateral series, India elected to bowl first and ripped through the West Indian batting line up.
West Indies was troubling at 97/7 when Dre Russ came and took them to a respectable total of 225. In a nail-biting finish to the match, India won the match by just 2 wickets. He also took the crucial wicket of Harbhajan Singh whose knock ultimately took away the match from West Indies.
A match later he also registered his finest One Day figures of 4/35 against India as West Indies restricted India to an achievable 251 and West Indies won that match easily by 7 wickets courtesy to a brilliant partnership between Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo. He was also adjudged his first Man of the Match award in this match.
Andre Russell cricketer was consistently a part of West Indian One Day team from 2011 to 2012 but, due to inconsistency he started becoming a replacement player in One Day cricket.
From 2013 to 2015 he only played 30 ODIs where one of his best performances came against South Africa in the same match where AB De Villiers scored the fastest One Day century ever. The total was unachievable for West Indies but Andre Russell’s effort of 64* cannot be neglected.
Like many other West Indian cricketers he did not play any cricket between 2016 and 2019 due to salary issues with the West Indian board. He returned to West Indian One Day team for the World Cup but played only 4 matches with best bowling performance of 2/4 against Pakistan on his return to One Day cricket.
He has not retired from One Day cricket but he played his last match against Bangladesh in June, 2019 where he got out for duck and picked up 1 wicket.
Andre Russell Biography depicts that has played a total of 56 ODIs where he has scored 1034 runs including 94 boundaries and 57 sixes which show the level of impact he brings to the game. He has also picked up 70 wickets with best figures of 4/35.
Key Points:
- In the 2011 cricket world cup, Russell made his ODI debut for his team against Ireland.
- In his second international match against England, he displayed telegraphic performance for his side with the bat and ball.
- In ODI he has scored highest runs against India (92*).
- Because of the Salary issue, he did not represent his country from 2016 till 2019 in ODI matches.
- In his career, he has played a total of 56 ODI matches for his country.
World Cup cricket:
Andre Russell West Indies One Day cricket debut was made during the 2011 World Cup against Ireland. He has played 3 World Cups for West Indies- 2011, 2015, and 2019.
Surprisingly, Cricket player Russell not scored a half century in World Cup cricket. His best performance of 49 runs came against England way back in 2011. Although he might be inconsistent with his batting he has always been a smart bowler.
Although his best bowling performance in World Cup cricket came against England in 2011 where he picked up 4/49 he has been picking 1-2 wickets in almost every match.
Dre Russ has played a total of 14 matches in World Cup cricket where he has picked up 23 wickets and scored 192 runs.
Key Points:
- Andre Russell has played three world cups with his country (2011,2015 and 2019).
- In the world cup, his highest score is 49 against England in 2011.
- In the world cup, he has 192 runs and 23 wickets to his name.
T20 Cricket and IPL:
Andre Russell’s whole career has been about T20 cricket. He has played more than 300 matches overall including different leagues of the world and is also considered one of the best T20 players that this game of cricket has ever produced.
Andre Russell West Indies cricketer debuted for West Indies in 2011 against Pakistan. It was one of the worst debuts as he got on duck and did not pick any wicket.
Andre Russell is one of the players who can never be judged by his statistics because the level of aggression, panache, and impact he brings is unmatchable.
Considering his statistics he has never scored a half-century in T20 International cricket but the cameos that he has played are unmatchable. He has been part of 3 T20 World Cups where he has consistently performed well in terms of contribution to the game.
When West Indies won the 2016 T20 World Cup he was also included in the ICC Team of the Tournament where he picked up 9 wickets and scored a crucial 43* against India in the Semi-Finals while chasing a big target at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
Overall he has played 49 T20Is for West Indies where he has scored 540 runs including 32 boundaries and 42s sixes which adds up to 380 runs. This means 70% of his runs come in boundaries which is a mind boggling stat for any cricketer. He has also picked up 26 wickets in T20 cricket with best figures of 2/10.
Winning the T20 world cup 2016 trophy was a pivotal chapter in Andre Russell Biography.
Key Points:
- In his career, Andre Russell has played more than 300 T20 matches.
- Andre Russell has made his international T20 debut against Pakistan in 2011.
- He has represented his country in three T20 world cups.
- In 2016 Andre Russell won the T20 world cup with his country in India.
IPL:
During the 2012 Indian Premier League Players Auction, Andre Russell IPL journey started with the Delhi Daredevils team and the first season of Andre Russ in IPL cricket was not at all impressive and he only played 3 matches where he scored 47 runs. The same happened in the 2013 IPL season as he only played 3 matches and did not act up to his potential.
Ahead of the 2014 season he was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders and has been seen as a key batsman for the team in the latter overs of matches. 2014 Season was a career-changing one for Andre Russell. He did not get much chance to play in the 2014 season but the 2015 Andre Russell KKR journey began.
Russell in KKR, In his first match itself he scored a brainstorming 41 off just 17 balls and in the next match ripped apart the Kings XI Punjab bowling line up as he scored his first half-century for KKR (66 off just 36 balls) to win the match in style. It was the rise of Andre Russell.
Since 2015 he has played many impact knocks for KKR but the 2019 season was undoubtedly the best one for him. He scored match-winning knocks in the first four matches of KKR.
The season started as KKR played Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first match. KKR was chasing a target of 181 runs and lost 5 five wickets in 15 overs and still more than 60 runs were left to be scored in the last 4 overs.
Andre Russell came and hammered one of the best bowling line ups of the tournament as he scored 49 off just 19 balls to take KKR home. For the next 3 matches, he scored runs at a strike rate of more than 200 which is absolutely breathtaking.
But, the most special one was the excellent chase against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy stadium, he rescued KKR from an impossible situation. KKR needed 58 runs in the last 3 overs and he finished the match with 5 balls remaining as he scored an unbeaten 48 off just 13 balls, Andre Russell against RCB he has a great record in Indian Premier League.
Although KKR did not do well in the 2019 season Andre Russell was always a treat to watch. He was scoring big runs and chasing runs easily for KKR. But, his best innings of IPL cricket came against Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens.
He hammered the Mumbai bowling line up as he scored 80 runs off just 40 balls. KKR put up a mammoth target of 232 runs. Hardik Pandya threatened to take away the match from KKR as he scored 91 runs off just 34 balls but ultimately KKR won by 34 runs. Andre Russell was adjudged Man of the match.
Andre Russell played 13 matches and scored 510 runs with a strike rate of 205.5 which are magical figures for any cricketer. He also picked up 11 wickets in the tournament.
He was the highest run-scorer for KKR in the tournament and was even the highest wicket-taker too. It was a dream season for him as he hit 52 sixes in the season which were second to none. It was one of the best seasons for any player in the history of IPL cricket.
Andre Russell IPL 2019 season went in favour of the superstar and he has showcased his talents with performance.
He played his current last IPL match in 2019 against Mumbai Indians where he got out on duck and did not pick any wickets.
Andre Russell has played a total of 64 IPL matches where he has scored 1400 runs including 96 boundaries and 120 sixes and also picked up 55 wickets with best figures of 4/20 against Kings XI Punjab in the 2016 Indian Premier League season.
This is the most Highlighting chapter in Andre Russell Biography.
Key Points:
- Andre Russell started his IPL journey with the Delhi Daredevils team.
- In the first two seasons with Delhi Daredevils, he only played a total of 6 matches for them.
- In 2014 he joined KKR from Dehli Daredevils but could not manage to be in the first team.
- Since 2015 till 2019 he has dominated the league with his performance.
- In 2019 against RCB he scored 48 runs in just 13 balls.
- In 2019 Andre Russell has scored 510 runs in just 13 matches.
- So Far, Andre Russell has totally played 64 IPL matches and scored 1400 Runs.
Andre Russell interesting facts, records etc:
In the season 2010, Rusell played at Barnards Green Cricket Club, Worcestershire, England, helping them secure promotion from Worcestershire Cricket League into Birmingham League cricket. He took 39 wickets at an average of 10.15. He also led the averages with his batting, hitting 799 runs in 11 innings at an average of 99.88 (3 Nos).
His initial all-round performances for West Indies got the cricketer instant attention and impressed the likes of Sir Vivian Richards, who counted him as one of the future players to watch out for.
On 21 September 2013, in a match against India A, he became the first bowler in T20 to take 4 wickets in 4 successive deliveries taking the wickets of Kedar Jadhav, Yuvraj Singh, Naman Ojha, and Yusuf Pathan.
Andre Russell was the part of two World Cup-winning teams (2012 & 2016). Both the title came in the T20 format.
In 2014, he began a second career as a recording artist under the name ‘Dre Russ’, with two singles set for release in November, one a collaboration with Beenie Man.
In the 2016 Pakistan Super League, he played for Islamabad United. He was drafted in by United for US$140,000 during an initial player draft that took place on 21-22 Dec 2015. His side won the inaugural edition of PSL He was an important member of the side as he finished the tournament as leading wicket-taker
Andre Russell is a very colorful personality. Apart from making his presence felt with his spectacular performances, Russell is also recognized for his unique, funky hairstyles.
He was on course to win the IPL Super Striker award in 2018, awarded for having the highest strike rate in the tournament, before being piped by his teammate Sunil Narine. He eventually won it next year in the 2019 IPL, where he had a record IPL season strike rate of over 205 and was also announced as the Player of the Tournament.
He hit 52 sixes in the tournament; only Chris Gayle has hit more sixes in any single season of the IPL.
According to the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO), in 2016 Russell committed an “anti-doping whereabouts” violation after missing three doping tests in a 12-month period. On 31 January 2017, Russell was banned from cricket for one year.
Russell scored a century in a record 40 balls in the 2018 Caribbean Premier League and took a hat-trick in the same match, becoming the second player to take a hat-trick and score a century in the same Twenty20 match.
On 6 August 2016 Russell scored the fastest Caribbean Premier League century, completing his 100 in 42 balls. He broke his own CPL record in 2018 with a century in 40 balls
In May 2018, he was named as one of the ten marquee players for the first edition of the Global T20 Canada cricket tournament. He was selected to play for the Vancouver Knights.
In September 2018, he was named as the Icon Player for Nangarhar’s squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament. The following month, he was named in the squad for the Dhaka Dynamites in the 2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League.
He also became the fastest player to reach 1000 One Day runs in 2019 in terms of balls faced- which were only 797.
There is no replacement for this kind of cricketer. He is one of a kind and a matchwinner too who can change the complexion of the game with the bat as well as the bowl. He is also a brilliant fielder too. He is one of the strongest and most talented players to grace T20 cricket. Currently, Andre Russell’s net worth is approximately $2-3 million.
