The man who single-handedly lifted the spirits of Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2019 IPL has turned into more of a yoke for the Purple and Gold Army as his performances have witnessed a vertiginous dip ever since that one season showdown for Kolkata.
Despite showcasing exemplary spirits with both the ball and the bat until 2019, the following year has seen him bulging in size terribly and yet his muscle has been the least of help that he could deduce. Struggling horribly with the weight, he has also suffered injuries that have made his stay at the Kolkata brigade even worse.
In the last two games where KKR needed him to bat desperately, he posted a mediocre showdown that saw him slumping to Mumbai without making any noise while against RCB, despite getting a start, he couldn’t convert it into a slugfest and got dismissed without a salient impact.
His match-fitness has gone down the drain terribly and the situations seem worse for this big-hitting Jamaican who has failed to connect on countless occasions.
As he has been under scrutiny for quite a while now, former English captain, Michael Vaughan took a very subtle dig at him, underlining his problem. Vaughan feels that Morgan can have his task cut out when it comes to dealing with Russell as the situation seems excessively tricky.
Vaughan told Cricbuzz in a discussion, “When you got player like Andre Russell, who has been a superstar, but on the field when the ball is coming to him, he is always using his feet. He is obviously someone who cannot go down. It’s a very clever and careful aspect which Eoin Morgan will have to manage.”
Vaughan pointed out that Russell is struggling vehemently with his feet that is reducing his chances of what can be a match-winning performance. According to the erstwhile English skipper, if Russell could have converted those dots into doubles in the 19th over, KKR could have still been fighting.
Vaughan concluded, “It’s a difficult one. How can you leave at Russell? But when you look at him on the field, and when he is bowling. It’s a bad look for the team when you got a player who is really struggling with his body.”
