Andre Russell  

The likes of Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Alzarri Joseph and others have made the best use of the grand IPL stage to make an impact.

KKR sorely felt the absence of a power hitter down the order who can turn matches on its head. It looks like Russell 2.0 is more menacing, hungrier and more devastating.

Before the start of the tournament, the majority of the fans and pundits picked the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Chris Gayle and other destructive top-order batsmen as favourites to win the ‘Orange Cap’, but Andre Russell has surprised one and all with his hitting and more importantly consistency in the first week of IPL 2019

The appeal was initiated by Kings XI Punjab spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who was on the receiving end of a flurry of massive sixes from KKR's swashbuckling batsman Andre Russell in a recent IPL game

Andre Russell, who hit a sensational 19-ball 49 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in KKR's previous match, bludgeoned his way to a 17-ball 48 to propel the home side to a massive 218/4 after being sent into bat in their IPL 2019 match. He later took two wickets for 21 runs to help KKR restrict KXIP to 190/4

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were off to a winning start in IPL 2019 thanks to all-rounder Andre Russell's sensational knock against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Eden Gardens on Sunday

Andre Russell last featured in the Afghanistan Premier League representing Nangarhar Leopards on October 9 but was not named in the ODI squad with the Windies Cricket ruling him out due to injury.