"He hit a few balls into the Hooghly river in the last match" - Aakash Chopra picks Andre Russell among KKR players in focus in IPL 2024 clash vs RCB

Aakash Chopra is eager to watch Andre Russell's all-round performance in the Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) IPL 2024 clash against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).

The two sides will face off at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday, March 29. KKR started their campaign in the ongoing edition of the prestigious league with a narrow four-run win against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) at home and will want to beat RCB in their first away game.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra chose Russell as one of the Kolkata Knight Riders players in focus in Friday's game.

"I am saying Andre Russell because Rinku (Singh) plays well in any case, and Nitish Rana also plays decently against this team. So Russell because he becomes extremely dangerous on this ground and he is bowling as well these days," he reasoned (5:40).

"He hit a few balls into the Hooghly river in the last match. He is batting like that. People are saying that one of the balls went and fell on the moon's south pole. So my focus will be on Andre Russell because he is a game-changing player. Just like you have Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell on one side, you will see Andre Russell, who can do a similar kind of job, here," the former India opener added.

Russell smoked an unbeaten 64 off just 25 deliveries in KKR's win against SRH. The seam-bowling all-rounder also picked up two wickets and was duly chosen as the Player of the Match.

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"You can keep a good player quiet for a short while but not for long" - Aakash Chopra on KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer was dismissed for a duck against SRH. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra picked Shreyas Iyer as another Kolkata Knight Riders player to watch out for.

"He (Shreyas) didn't score runs in the last match but he will score because he is a good player. You can keep a good player quiet for a short while but not for long. He will have responsibility on him and my eyes will be there on him for sure," he elaborated (5:20).

The former KKR player chose Varun Chakaravarthy as the third player in focus for the visitors.

"Then I am thinking about Varun Chakaravarthy. This team (RCB) was seen surrendering against Varun Chakaravarthy last year as well in Kolkata. Suyash Sharma was also there. He also picked up wickets. Suyash will also definitely come as an Impact sub but my third player in focus is Varun Chakaravarthy. He might bowl an over in the powerplay as well," Chopra said.

Chopra concluded by expecting a close game. However, he picked KKR as the likely winners.