Why is Andre Russell not playing today’s IPL 2020 match vs RCB?

Andre Russell not playing: The star all-rounder from Kolkata Knight Riders hasn’t been included in their Playing XI tonight.

During the 39th match of the ongoing 13th season of the Indian Premier League between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Abu Dhabi, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Eoin Morgan has won the toss and opted to bat.

“We are gonna bat first. The wicket looks good. The games we have won so far, the majority of them we have batted first. It seems to have worked for us throughout the tournament so far.

“The wickets have been slower which has made it more challenging. The guys at the top against Sunrisers [Hyderabad] did a great job,” Knight Riders captain Eoin Morgan said during the toss.

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli also longed to bat first but was looking forward to the chasing with a short boundary on one side at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. “We would have batted first. Looks like a good pitch, shorter boundary on one side.

“It should be a good chase as long as we bowl well first and restrict a strong batting line-up to a decent total. It’s not a drastic change, on the day if you are playing well, you can win on any ground. We bowled them out cheaply in Sharjah which was supposedly not happening in any game,” Kohli said during the toss.

Why is Andre Russell not playing today’s IPL 2020 match vs RCB?

Talking about the changes in his Playing XI, Kohli announced that fast bowler Mohammed Siraj has been included for all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed.

As far as the changes for Kolkata are concerned, they have made a couple of changes as opening batsman Tom Banton and pacer Prasidh Krishna have replaced all-rounder Andre Russell and pacer Shivam Mavi.

“Couple of changes. [Tom] Banton and Prasidh [Krishna] come in for of [Shivam] Mavi and [Andre] Russell. Dre [Andre Russell] picked up a niggle in the last game. Sunil [Narine] is still not 100%,” Morgan added.

While Russell has missed this match due to a niggle, his performance in IPL 2020 hasn’t been up to the mark either. In nine T20s so far, Russell has scored 92 runs at an average and strike rate of 11.50 and 131.42. With the ball in hand, his six wickets have come at an average of 29.16, an economy rate of 9.72 and a strike rate of 18.