KOLKATA: The old warhorses of Kolkata Knight Riders — Andre Russell and Sunil Narine — joined the side’s training session at the Eden Gardens on Saturday. Both the West Indians, who arrived in the city after travelling for almost 24 hours on Saturday morning, did not opt to rest but decided to get down to business in the evening.
The sight of Russell bowling, although not in his full run-up, at the nets must have pleased coach Chandrakant Pandit and mentor Gautam Gambhir as it would provide the side an additional bowling option.
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However, the vintage Russell was on display when the all-rounder started playing his shots during batting practice. For some one hour, the balls kept flying as Russell hammered all the bowlers showing no signs of jet lag.
It was learnt that the costliest player in IPL history, Mitchell Starc, is also expected to join the side on Sunday. The seasoned Australian pacer, who previously represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2014 and 2015, expressed his excitement about the prospect of reuniting with the KKR franchise.
“It’s been eight years, I think. Back to KKR where I was supposed to be in 2018. So I’ll be back there for the chance to pull on the gold and purple. I guess my memories are few and far between back in 2014 and 2015 with RCB but yeah, really excited to get stuck in. Obviously, a new group of players. A bunch of guys I certainly haven’t met or been able to work with before,” Starc said in an interview with cricket.com.au.
The pacer is eager to meet his new teammates. “There’s a couple of international guys that I’ve played against and come across. Yeah, it’s gonna be exciting. It’s definitely a new challenge and it’ll be exciting,” he stated.
