Andre Russell IPL Retirement: Top 5 KKR Innings That Made Him a Legend

On November 30, 2025, Andre Russell, who played a crucial role for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), announced he would be retiring from the Indian Premier League (IPL) just days before the IPL Mini Auction on December 16. He will now take on a role as part of KKR's backroom staff, but over the years, his legendary performances as a player made him one of KKR's most valuable players.

In addition to being an effective bowler, Russell was a batsman who posted many memorable innings as a player, demonstrating his tremendous power and talent. As this West Indian player steps away from the league that solidified him as a legend, let's look back on some of Russell's top IPL performances.

As a member of Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL, Andre Russell has been a phenomenal addition to the team with his outstanding performance in 2018. Playing in match five against CSK (Chennai Super Kings), Russell delivered one of the most incredible innings in the history of the IPL with an innings of 88 off 36 balls. Andre Russell picked KKR off the floor after having been reduced to 5 wickets for 89 runs. KKR reached a total of 202 runs, having scored 11 sixes. Russell achieved an outstanding strike rate of 244.

Despite this incredible innings and a top total for a one-day match in Kolkata, Russell was unable to help KKR achieve victory due to superior batting by the CSK players, including Sam Billings, Shane Watson, and Ambati Rayudu.

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Kolkata Knight Riders Founded: 2008

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is a cricket team in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Russell's second-most memorable knock occurred during KKR's 2019 match against the Mumbai Indians when he scored 80 runs off 40 balls in a historic performance at Eden Gardens. As Russell walked to the wicket to bat at number 3, he found himself in an enormous opportunity to help the KKR team to 232 runs (the highest aggregate to date for KKR) after the stellar start by Shubman Gill (76 runs off 45 balls) and Chris Lynn (54 runs off 29 balls). Russell reached a strike rate of 200 as a result of his 80 runs off 40 balls.

Andre Russell's performance with the bat helped his team for a win. Punjab Kings failed in their chase in the 8th match of IPL 2022 after restricting KKR to just 137 runs due to Umesh Yadav's 4 wickets.

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Andre Russell All-Rounder

Andre Russell from Jamaica, made his ODI debut in the 2011 World Cup against Ireland.

Kolkata Knight Riders picked up the pace too slowly while chasing down Punjab Kings' target of 137 runs. KKR lost 4 wickets for just 51 runs within the first 7 overs and were struggling before Andre Russell came in and turned things around. He scored 70 runs off only 31 balls with 8 sixes and 2 boundaries at a strike rate of 225.80 while partnering with an undefeated Sam Billings to help complete the run chase in only 20 overs.

The match brought back memories of a decade ago when Andre Russell was barely beginning to make a name for himself in the Raj Khandari camp after being signed by KKR a year prior. On April 18, 2015,/Russell came to save the day for KKR against Pune after they collapsed to 60 runs with 5 wickets down in just 8 overs. It looked as if that was the end of KKR's chances of winning before Russell made a tremendous leap to the challenge and changed the narrative.

Russell started with a few big swings to get settled before launching an all out attack in the 13th over, where he smashed 19 runs to crush KXIP's confidence led by George Bailey. Russell has consistently performed well overall against RCB during his career in cricket, so it was not surprising that the 2019 match between RCB and KKR at the Kolkata Cricket Stadium had the same result. RCB set an imposing target of 213 for KKR to achieve and KKR struggled soon after Robin Uthappa was dismissed in the twelfth over while their total was 4 wickets lost at 79 runs.

Russell came into bat at No.6 for KKR but played an explosive innings scoring 65 runs off just 25 balls before being run out by Virat Kohli. Russell had a strike rate of 260.00 featuring 9 sixes and 2 fours. KKR were unable to chase down the target, despite good contributions from Nitish Rana and Dinesh Karthik with both remaining not out, resulting in RCB winning the match by 10 runs.

Andre Russell – Top IPL Knocks

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