Why Andre Russell is not playing today: The West Indian all-rounder hasn’t played in international cricket since ICC T20 World Cup 2021.
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Put in to bat first by West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran, India got off to a brisk start on the back of a 44-run opening partnership in the first T20I at the Brian Lara Stadium.
Having said that, the same didn’t happen without the visitors fielding yet another novel opening pair. While experts and fans were hoping for one out of Rishabh Pant or Ishan Kishan to partner captain Rohit Sharma at the top of the order, India surprised one and all by sending batter Suryakumar Yadav (24) as Sharma’s opening partner.
While Kishan is among the seven Indian cricketers warming the bench in Tarouba today, Yadav opened the batting for the first time in international cricket. Readers must note that the only other instance of him playing as an opener in his 12-year old T20 career was a breakout Indian Premier League 2018 season for Mumbai Indians.
Why Andre Russell is not playing vs India today?
From their last respective matches, both West Indies and India made four changes to their Playing XIs today. It was earlier this month when West Indies and India had faced Bangladesh and England in a T20I series respectively.
Despite the changes, West Indies have had to take the field without all-rounder Andre Russell. Russell, 34, hasn’t played competitive cricket since IPL 2022. As far as international cricket is concerned, Russell had last represented West Indies during the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE last year.
Following the world event, Russell had made himself unavailable to tour Pakistan due to personal reasons. While the exact reason behind Russell’s absence from the ongoing home season remains unknown, he has missed a lot of international cricket due to injury and availability issues in the recent years.
