West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell has recently signed a short-term contract with the Big Bash League side Melbourne Renegades as a replacement for English all-rounder Liam Livingstone. He will be available to play the initial four matches of the tournament.
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The Renegades signed Liam Livingstone for the first half of the season, but he got ruled out of the tournament. Russell was not initially picked in the squad, but he came in as a replacement. He was part of Melbourne Stars in the last edition of the Big Bash League.
Russell is one of the greatest players to play in the T20 format of the game. He has scored 7176 T20 runs with the help of 2 centuries and 27 half-centuries, whereas he also has 381 wickets under his belt. Russell will be replaced by Martin Guptill after the initial four matches.
Andre Russell senses danger for T20s due to emergence of T10 format
Andre Russell addressed the press ahead of the Big Bash League 2022-23 season, where he talked about the emergence of the T10 format of the game. The Abu Dhabi T10 League started in 2017, and year after year, some big names are participating in the tournament.
After Abu Dhabi, even Sri Lanka have announced their own T10 League next year. West Indies cricket introduced its 60Ty format this year. Russell was a part of both competitions, and he said that the emergence of these leagues can be harmful to the T20 format. He said that there is a lot of cricket going on, and the players will prefer to play in shorter formats.
“To be honest, it (T10 cricket) can be (a threat), because you can watch three games in a day, it’s less stress on the body and bowlers just come and bowl two overs,” Andre Russell said to the reporters.
“T20 is always going to be ultimate, (but) I just think it’s the amount of cricket at the moment (means) the players’ availability (is) going to be a big issue.”
Russell recently represented the Deccan Gladiators in the T10 League, and he won the championship as well. He insists that he wants the players to concentrate on red-ball cricket as well because the old-school fans admire that format.
