A powerful hitter of the ball, Andre Russell has the ability to intimidate any bowler in the world with his fearsome batting. The big Jamaican made his ODI debut in the World Cup 2011 against Ireland, picking up a solitary wicket as West Indies won that game. He played his only Test match in 2010 against Sri Lanka where he was average both with the bat & bowl in hand. After a poor home series against Pakistan, Russell rose to the occasion in the 5-match ODI series against the then world champions, India. On being dropped from the first two games of the series, Russell made a statement in the third game and made an instant impact with the bat, scoring 92 off a mere 62 deliveries, and also picked up a wicket along with a run-out. Despite his heroics, West Indies still lost the match. In the fourth ODI, he took 3 crucial wickets and helped the Windies to cross the line. He got better in the final ODI and picked up 4 wickets and was eventually awarded the ‘Man of the Match’ title. Over the years, Russell has impressed a lot of great cricketers, including Sir Vivian Richards, but consistency has been a major issue for the explosive batsman. The early promise that he showed faded away, but Russell remained a potent force in the shortest format of the game. In the inaugural season of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Russell smashed 203 runs at a healthy strike-rate of 189.71. The brute all-rounder was a key player for the Windies in the 2016 World T20. In the crucial semifinal game against India, he scored a quickfire 43 off just 20 balls to take the game away from India. For his impressive performances with both bat & the ball, he was included by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in the ‘Team of the Tournament’. The power-hitter was also part of the West Indies squad for the 2019 World Cup. In a group game against Australia, Russell became the quickest player to achieve the 1,000 run mark in ODI’
