West Indies batsman Andre Russell made his debut in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) on Friday. The all-rounder plied his trade for Quetta Gladiators in the match against Islamabad United at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. However, Russell succumbed to a disastrous outing during his maiden appearance in the T20 Championship as he ended up suffering a concussion.
The match between Quetta Gladiators and Islamabad United started with United winning the toss. Skipper Shadab Khan invited the Sarfaraz Khan-led side to bat first. In the 14th over of the first innings, Russell seemed to be his usual self as he smacked the bowler Muhammad Musa for two blistering maximums.
On the third ball, Musa managed to catch Russell off-guard by bowling a bouncer. The ball hit his helmet. It was a massive blow and the game was stopped for a couple of minutes.
One must always witness a Dre Russ show. This time cut short by @iMusaKhan #MatchDikhao l #HBLPSL6 l #QGvIU pic.twitter.com/pemprmMbCj— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) June 11, 2021
A physiotherapist immediately came to the ground and checked the West Indies star for any kind of injury. After taking a couple of minutes, Russell resumed batting. However, he couldn’t stand on the field for long and lost his wicket on the very next ball. On the fourth delivery, Russell top-edged Musa’s delivery to Mohammad Wasim Jr while trying to play a pull shot.
Russell’s injury aggravated as he had to be stretchered off the ground. The 34-year-old was later taken for scans in an ambulance. He has been ruled out of Quetta Gladiators’ next game against Peshawar Zalmi on June 12, Saturday.
Quetta named right-arm fast-bowler Naseem Shah as the concussion substitute for the Jamaican all-rounder. The International Cricket Council (ICC) allows a player to be substituted during the match if he has been hit by the ball on the head.
The inclusion of Naseem Shah for Quetta’s bowling innings didn’t go well with the opposition skipper Shadab as he believed that it wasn’t a like-for-like replacement. Shadab showed his disagreement to the umpires too, but the match referee approved the substitute.
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