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In front of the 2026 tournament's mini-auction, West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell has finally spoken out about his abrupt IPL retirement. After 12 seasons with the team, Russell was let go by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) prior to the auction in December. Russell, 37, unexpectedly announced his retirement from the event, despite supporters' expectations that KKR would acquire him in the auction or that he would sign with another club.
Russell explained his unexpected announcement and emphasised the challenges of competing in the largest T20 competition in the world. He also talked about the difficulties of being an all-around player throughout the season. Russell will continue to play in the other franchise leagues and has joined the KKR's backroom team as a power coach.
One of the best foreign players to have ever participated in the IPL, Russell has now spoken up about his decision to end his playing career. He claims that the many difficulties of playing every day forced him to make the difficult decision.
''It is based on the number of games and the travel. You have to make sure that you recover as well as possible to stay fresh and manage your body, manage practice sessions, and your workload in the gym. You definitely need to practise, you need to hit the gym, but also make sure not to do too much,'' Russell told Cricbuzz.
''With a big league like the IPL, it's always challenging for me as an all-rounder. And I can only speak on behalf of myself, because to bat, bowl, and then make sure that you do some catching and fielding stuff - it's always challenging. I just think this league is so big that you always want to make sure that your best performance is always at hand,'' he added.
In 140 IPL games, Russell scored 2651 runs at a strike rate of 174.18—the highest of any player who has faced at least 1000 balls in the competition. In addition, he claimed 123 wickets, with his best stats being 5/15.
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