With the kind of form that he has displayed in the IPL 2019, Andre Russell was expected to be a massive force for the Windies in the World Cup 2019. He seemed unstoppable in the domestic T20 league and played an excellent all-round cricket. However, throughout that tournament, the 31-year-old had to deal with several injuries and a lot of pain. It seemed to be a jigsaw puzzle that was just about held together.
While Russell has been able to deal with many of those injuries and continue to play, the left knee kept haunting him. Throughout the IPL and now in the World Cup as well, he was visibly struggling with his knee and seemed to be in great pain. It seems to have aggravated during the game against Australia which his team lost by 15 runs. Then, in the next game against South Africa which had to be abandoned due to rain, he wasn’t a part of the playing XI.
He did play the next two games against England and Bangladesh but the all-rounder again missed out the New Zealand match. While it was expected to be a precautionary measure, the Caribbean fans have got a piece of bad news. Andre Russell has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament due to this injury.
The Windies Cricket Board (WICB) had earlier named a few players as the back-up in case any player in the squad is injured. This included the retired DJ Bravo as well. However, the selectors decided to pick a pure batsman instead. The 26-year-old Sunil Ambris will be replacing Russell on the side. He is expected to join the team in England ahead of the clash against Team India on June 27.
Ambris hasn’t got a great deal of experience at the international level. He has played 6 Tests and 6 ODIs thus far. His numbers in the white-ball format have been great. He scored 316 runs thus far at an identical average and strike rate of 105.33. The right-hander has got a century and a half-century to his name. With the kind of squad that the Windies have, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he is slotted into the playing eleven straightaway for the next game.
