Andre Russell was playing his final T20I, and he gave fans a proper treat in Jamaica in the second T20I against Australia. Russell came out to bat at a tricky situation when West Indies had lost back-to-back wickets of Roston Chase and Sherfane Rutherford, with the team tottering at 98-5. He got his innings off to a blazing start and hit a six on his second ball.
He hit two more sixes off Ben Dwarshuis and quickly raced to 20 in 7 balls. Russell then hit a four and a six off Adam Zamma in the next over, and also scored a boundary of Nathan Ellis before being dismissed for 36 in 15 balls. Russell’s knock helped Australia recover from a terrible position and post a decent total of 172/8 in 20 overs.
Russell’s wicket marked the end of an era in West Indies cricket. The veteran ended his career with 1122 runs in 86 matches at a strike rate of 163. Russell also took 61 international wickets in his T20I career, and he can add a few more if he gets to bowl during Australia’s innings.
Guard of Honour For Andre Russell
Earlier, the Australia and West Indies players gave a guard of honour to the West Indies great as he came to bat for the final time in international cricket.
Meanwhile, Russell said that he was emotional as he went on to bat in his farewell T20I, adding that he was focused on doing well for the side. Russell also thanked the fans who came out in large numbers for his retirement T20I.
“Just don’t want to finish on a losing note, that’s important to me and the West Indies. We’ve played some good cricket in patches, based on how this wicket has played, I think we’re 20 runs short, but we’ll fight. Want to finish my international career with a win, was a bit emotional when I went out to the middle for the last time, but I was focussed on my work . When you have positive intent, it becomes easy (to hit sixes), nice to keep hitting sixes. Sabina Park, it was my dream as a kid to play here, it’s reality now, says if you dream, you can achieve. Thanks to all who came out to support me, it means a lot. Want more games to be played at this lovely venue and I think we need to play more games in front of these good fans. We’ll try our best to win tonight and finish on a good note,” Russell said.