IPL news: 'Venky Mysore's phone call in 2017 made me cry', reveals Andre Russell

What's the story?

Andre Russell, who has been in swashbuckling form in this year's IPL playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders, put light on his hard times on BBC's Doosra podcast. The hard-hitting West Indian revealed how the Kolkata Knight Riders team management supported him during his ban and that he owes all his success to Kolkata.

The background

In the year 2017, West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell was handed a one-year ban from playing cricket. Russell stayed out of the cricket field from January 2017 to January 2018 and did not participate in the 10th edition of IPL which took place during that time period. A mega-auction was set to take place in the year 2018 and very few expected Kolkata Knight Riders to retain Russell ahead of the auction.

The heart of the matter

Andre Russell was one of the only two players that Kolkata chose to keep with themselves before the auction and this decision made the Caribbean player emotional.

Dre Russ disclosed the details of the things that happened during that time and said that,

"When I got banned in 2017, I was depressed. I do not cry easily, but to see Venky Mysore [KKR CEO] take up the phone and say they were going to retain me through that time, water filled my eyes. They know me, that's the thing about family. I owe these performances to them."

He gave the entire credit of his success to the Kolkata team management and now that Russell is performing fantastically in IPL 2019, the Kolkata fans can only thank Venky Mysore to keep him in the squad despite the things that happened off field.

What's next?

Andre Russell could not take Kolkata Knight Riders over the line against Royal Challengers Bangalore last night but he has a lot to play for in the next game.

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