Shah Rukh Khan suggested Andre Russell to retire from the IPL, says KKR CEO Venky Mysore

Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore has disclosed that while the franchise held prolonged discussions with Andre Russell about a potential release ahead of the IPL 2026 mini-auction, the final call to retire from the tournament, and remain associated with KKR in a non-playing role, was actually inspired by co-owner Shah Rukh Khan.

Russell, who spent 12 seasons with KKR and became one of the franchise’s biggest match-winners, was released before the auction. Though many expected the franchise to buy him back or anticipated a bidding war from other teams, the Jamaican all-rounder surprised the cricketing world by announcing his retirement from the IPL.

Speaking about his decision, Russell revealed that the increasing physical and mental demands of the world’s most competitive T20 league played a major part. He admitted that maintaining peak performance across an entire season had become difficult, ultimately prompting him to step away from IPL cricket.

“I could see he (Russell) was agonising over it and, so when I shared this with SRK, it was SRK’s suggestion. Because, see, a player is thinking somewhere at the back of his mind, what happens after I hang up my boots?” Mysore said to ESPNCricinfo.

“But I don’t think they want to think about it so much because professional athletes are like that. They believe I am still good and Dre still is, he is fantastic and playing other leagues,” he added.

The KKR CEO added that once the decision was finalised, Russell appeared very free in mind and fully at peace with the call. Over his 12-season journey with Kolkata, Russell established himself as one of the franchise’s greatest performers. He was a key member of KKR’s title-winning campaigns in 2014 and 2024, earned the IPL Most Valuable Player award in 2019, and collected an impressive 16 Player-of-the-Match honours during his stint with the team.

“It just felt like he was very free in his mind after making the retirement decision. Because the guy took a couple of catches, sliding and diving and throwing. I sent him a note later, saying, “What’s going on here, Dre? How are you doing, power coach?” I was kidding him,” Mysore said.

“Everybody has started calling him a power coach and I think he loves it. We are very happy. I think he is very happy. He has completely accepted it, come to terms with it,” he added.