Andre Russell should have joined KKR earlier than he did, claims Gautam Gambhir

Former Kolkata Knight Riders captain, Gautam Gambhir recently claimed that West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell should have been picked earlier by KKR in the player auctions.

Speaking on the Star Sports Cricket Connected show, Gambhir said that if Andre Russell had joined KKR earlier than in 2014, the Knight Riders could have won a few more Indian Premier League titles.

“Imagine Russell going for 50 Lakhs to KKR and Pawan Negi for 8 cr to Daredevils. I probably wished that he would have been there for 7 years when I was playing we would have certainly won one or two more,” the former India opener said.

Notably, Andre Russell played for the Delhi Daredevils before he was signed by the Knight Riders in the 2014 player auction. However, a slew of injuries and the lack of matches meant that the Jamaican played only two matches in that season.

Andre Russell joined KKR in 2014

One of the most aggressive batsmen of all time, Russell has played six seasons of the IPL with KKR, four seasons under the southpaw's captaincy.

Gambhir was named as the KKR captain in 2012 and led the Knight Riders to the title in his very first season as captain. Two years later, the opener again led KKR to title triumph but the West Indian did not have much to contribute.

Russell was at his dominating best in IPL 2019

The Delhi-born batsman left KKR ahead of the IPL 2018 season and was procured by DD in the 2018 player auction. As for Russell, IPL 2018 and IPL 2019 proved to be two great seasons in terms of form with both bat and ball.

The Jamaican all-rounder was at his scintallating best particularly in the 2019 edition, amassing 510 runs with the bat from 14 matches at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 204.81.

Currently, with the coronavirus pandemic bringing a halt to cricketing action for the time being, fans of Russell's pyrotechnics will need to wait longer to see him in action when IPL 2020 gets underway later this year.