Dre Russ : End Of a Power Hitter's Journey..

Windies is a fountain of ball strikers since a long time. When we look at franchise leagues a few years ago, it was mostly #Windies players that dominated from the bat. Even though they had been unable to make a proper power hitter that can rely on their future, can't imagine time passed as this much so this guy has to retire from T20Is.

Some international #cricket players retired from international cricket to focus on franchise cricket. But this guy is not like that. May be there have been some political or unfavorable selection criteria that affected him in 2020s. You can understand him by comparing IPL stats and T20i stats. He is Andre Russell and most of us call him "Dre Rus".

When we look back his past, can't imagine he was debuted as a test player and lastly he became a #T20I player. But he first retired from longer formats to keep his performance in both bowling and batting in the shorter format. He hits the ball so hard with a big swing and no foot work is required to clear the boundary.

I remember when I first noticed him in 2011 ICC World Cup. He was mainly a bowler back then. At a match against England, he kinda changed his runup by making the batsman think like he's going to stop but then started running again and bowled. That I never even seen and even anyone after didn't try it. It was a silly thing to do but it is a nice way to remember him.

He quickly gained recognition on T20 format and played all IPL seasons from 2012. He scored 1000+ runs with 160+ strike rate in T20is and 2000+ runs with 170+ strike rate in IPL. He could be expensive when it comes to bowling but he had proven again and again that he's a good partnership breaker.

So today "Dre Rus" retired from T20i format, played 2nd T20i vs Australia of the series as the final match. He had a worm farewell before the beginning of today's match at his home venue, Sebina Park, Jamaica. Many celebrities like Shelley Anne Fraiser-Price came to see the match.

He came to the crease when the team was going nowhere but he smashed some sixes to score 36 off 15 balls to lift the team up for 172. But the bowling lineup was unable to defend the total and loss the match buly 8 wickets. He was warmly greeted by Australians, whom mostly are teammates in different franchises.

"Dre Russ" retired at 37 years of age after serving 14 years to the country, not like some players that retires just after becoming 30 to play franchise cricket. In that view, Dre Russ showed a great example for upcoming cricketers showing that your country should be first above all..