It was very hard to watch the matches, not injured, fully fit but unable to play: Andre Russell

He was in the prime of his game the Most Valuable Player in most T20 leagues around the world. That’s when Andre Russell was banned for a year failing to declare his whereabouts which is a breach of the Anti-Doping Agency guidelines. He didn’t feature in the IPL 2017 and all the other leagues last year. But the kind of performances he had put up ensure he is still held in high regard. The Kolkata Knight Riders decided to retain him for IPL 2018 and the Islamabad United also held onto him for this edition of the PSL.

Was very hard to sit by and watch

The third season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) kicks off on February 22 and Russell is all excited to be back with the Islamabad United who won the inaugural edition of the PSL. He admitted that it was really tough for him to be on the sidelines, away from the game, all he could do was watch the action unfold and wait for his ban to end.

“It was very hard to watch the matches, not injured, fully fit but unable to play,” he was quoted as saying by Geo.tv. “I’ve been watching a lot of cricket since, I’ve learned a lot, I got to understand a lot of cricket. I got to analyse the game more, by watching from the outside,” Russell added.

He is one of those players who make an unmatched contribution in all three aspects of the game. He is a magnificent batsman who can hit the ball long, a brilliant bowler who knows how to outsmart the batsmen in the crunch situations and one of the best fielders giving his all to save a run or grab a catch.

“I always look to get wickets, make a lot of runs. If I take a brilliant catch in the field or make an [outstanding] runout, that’s a bonus,” Russell further said.

Islamabad didn’t quite have a memorable outing last season as they won half of the matches they played and with four wins in eight matches were eliminated after the playoffs. In the third season, they have a new skipper in Misbah-ul-Haq and director, mentor in former national team coach Waqar Younis.