Amidst some reports that Andre Russell might be released by Indian Premier League (IPL) defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the franchise’s Managing Director Venky Mysore says it was a no-brainer to retain the West Indies superstar cricketer.

The 36-year-old Jamaican all-rounder, who was drafted in 2014, has played most of his IPL career with KKR where he helped them to two titles including last May, which was the third in the franchise’s history.

However, with teams given a deadline of October 31 to retain players, media reports coming out of India last week suggested that two-time Twenty20 World Cup winner Russell would be released ahead of the November 24 mega auction for the 2025 season due to his age and a perceived decline in his batting.

But Russell and former West Indies spinner Sunil Narine were among six players retained by the franchise. It means that Russell will be guaranteed a contract for 2025 and is expected earn over $227 million.

Mysore says it was an easy decision to keep the pair due to their decade long invaluable contributions to the franchise.

“[Russell and Narine] play for all our four franchises around the world and the relationship one builds up is a big factor. Sunil since 2012, Andre since 2014 and we’ve never allowed them to go into the auction for obvious reasons. We have a relationship, they’re like family,” Mysore said.

“But just look at the contributions they’ve made to building brand KKR. If you look at MVPs of IPL, Sunil has had three in his career, Russell has two and all of that is in purple and gold, so it would be foolish for a franchise like ours to even think of ‘are we going to retain or not retain?’. They’ve basically earned the right to say when they’re done playing cricket and I don’t think they will say that so until such time, they’ll keep contributing. Everywhere you turn, there they are. If you look at last year, Russell’s strike rate was the highest in the tournament so it’s a no-brainer.”

Although just managing one half-century and a total of 222 runs in the 2024 season, Russell’s bowling contribution was significant as he finished with 19 wickets, the fourth best returns of the tournament.

Russell, who won the most valuable player (MVP) award in 2015 and 2019, has played 120 matches for KKR and has scored 2,426 runs with 11 half-centuries and has picked up 114 wickets with best figures of 5 for 15.

Prior to the 2024 season, Russell said he wanted to spend the rest of his IPL career with Kolkata franchise.

“KKR actually make things happen for me where they send me to get proper treatments on my knees. That’s something special to me to be honest. No other franchise or even my country never really invest that much on me,” he said.

“I’m happy here. I don’t see any other franchise I would love to be a part of in this tournament because I’ve been here for about 9 years now. Been here for so many years, I meet these guys, get closer to them every year. When cricket isn’t there, I’m still in communication with Mr Venky [Mysore]. I look up to him, I really respect him.”

Russell also plays for other teams in the Knight Riders Group including Caribbean Premier League franchise, Trinbago Knight Riders.