West Indies powerhouse Andre Russell’s release from the Kolkata Knight Riders on the IPL 2026 retention deadline day grabbed eyeballs, with several pundits and fans expressing surprise over the decision from the three-time champions.
Russell, 37, retired from international T20Is earlier this year and has served the Knights for over 11 years, scoring 2600 runs while also picking 122 wickets for the franchise. Russell’s devastating impact was vital to the KKR set-up, however, former India batter Mohammed Kaif feels things may have changed with the appointment of Abhishek Nayar as head coach. Kaif added that Nayar is the direct reason behind the relase of Russell, insisting that the former India assistant coach wants to mould his own side.
‘You had him at Rs 12 crore…
“Russell’s release is not right. You had him at 12 crore and that is not a big amount really for a player like him. He is once in a generation player. Yes he was out of form but later on he scored runs too. But as coaches change, they bring some changes. I think this was a big call.
“You can say he was not at his peak but I feel this is such a format, specially in the IPL, where experienced players do well and there are many examples. I feel the straight answer to his release is Abhishek Nayar. He wants to make his own team now. But this was an astonishing call,” Kaif said on his YouTube channel.
Kaif said despite his waning powers, Kolkata will find it difficult to find a player of the same calibre.
“The quality and power that Russell has, even four players like Cameron Green cannot cover that. The way he plays, he can hit 100m sixes as per will and he has won them so many games from situations where the game seemed lost. He got that respect because of this ability. There are very few players like him at number seven.
“If you play Green at seven, he cannot score even half the runs of Russell, he bats up the order. I feel they should buy Russell back,” added Kaif.
