West Indies great Andre Russell on Sunday announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL), saying he will be joining the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as 'Power Coach' from next season. The 37-year-old all-rounder had been with the IPL franchise as a player since the 2014 season and has lifted the trophy twice. He was also named the Most Valuable Player in the 2019 season.
In 139 IPL games in his career, Russell has scored 2,651 runs at a strike rate of 174.18 and has picked up 123 wickets, being only the second player, along with Ravindra Jadeja, to have scored over 2,000 runs and taken over 100 wickets in the tournament. But while he will continue to play across different leagues, Russell — who also announced his international retirement in July — said he is excited to start a new IPL chapter in KKR's coaching department. "I felt like it was the best decision at this point. I don’t want to fade out, I want to leave a legacy behind," Russell said in a video shared on social media. "To be in a set-up that's familiar matters to me a lot. When I heard that name — Power Coach — I felt that describes Andre Russell the best."
Russell was released by KKR this year ahead of the 2026 IPL auction, which will take place on December 16 in Abu Dhabi. In May 2020, Russell, in an episode of Knights Unplugged, had said: "I imagine I would love to be at KKR until that I'd say, 'Listen, Shah Rukh, all the KKR staff, everyone, this will be my last IPL and the last home game playing in Kolkata.'" "No doubt you will remain a Knight Rider until you retire from the game and beyond! #Superman," KKR CEO Venky Mysore famously responded to the statement on X.
While the big-hitting Caribbean player's release by KKR was seen by many as the end of the bond, with Russell likely to join another outfit, his new role at Eden Gardens hints at the start of a new, happy chapter.