IPL 2024: Gautam Gambhir played a pivotal role in Andre Russell and Sunil Narine’s retentions, says Tom Moody

Former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody reckons Gautam Gambhir played a pivotal role in Andre Russell and Sunil Narine’s retentions. Gambhir was recently appointed as KKR’s mentor after he parted ways with Lucknow Super Giant.

Gambhir had led KKR to glory in 2012 and 2014 and backed the West Indies duo ahead of IPL 2024 mini-auction. Russell and Narine joined KKR in 2014 and 2012, respectively and since then they have played a key role in the team’s success.

Russell has scored 2262 runs in 112 IPL matches at an average of 29 and a strike rate of 174 whereas he has picked 96 wickets but he has been troubled by injuries in the last few seasons.

On the other hand, Sunil Narine has bagged 163 wickets in 162 IPL matches and he has bowled with an impressive economy rate of 6.73. Furthermore, he has amassed 1046 runs in his IPL career.

“This is going to be a telling year for both Russell and Narine. They both have been phenomenal cricketers for KKR and are really a part of their history. I feel that Gambhir has been quite pivotal in the retention of Russell and Narine. Gambhir understands them, he’s played with them, he’s captained them and he’ll be able to get the best out of them,” Moody told ESPNcricinfo.

Meanwhile, Moody noted that Andre Russell has injury troubles and it will be interesting to note his fitness in the upcoming season.

“I think we’ll see a different outcome in 2024 with regards to what Russell brings to the table. The only hesitation I have is not skill. It’s whether he can hold together physically because we’ve seen him break down on a couple of occasions over recent years and it’s been quite alarming. His bowling has been pretty limited as well, and they haven’t had the access to his full quota of overs,” Moody added.

List of released players by KKR

Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das, Aarya Desai, David Wiese, Narayan Jagadeesan, Mandeep Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Johnson Charles.

List of retained players by KKR

Nitish Rana (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, Jason Roy (replacement).