Despite Andre Russell retiring from playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Venky Mysore believes the Jamaican superstar will still be valuable in his new role as “power coach”.

Last week, Russell announced his decision to step away from the world’s biggest Twenty20 franchise league after 12 seasons. It’s the second retirement announcement from him after stepping away from international cricket with the West Indies in July.

The 37-year-old could have been available in the IPL draft next week after not being retained by KKR where he spent the last 11 years and won the title in 2014 and 2024.

However, following discussions with the KKR ownership, the Jamaican all-rounder opted not to, accepting a coaching role ahead of the 2026 season.

“I had some amazing times and great memories, hitting sixes, winning games, MVP and all of those things but sometimes you just have to know when to hang up the boots,” Russell said in a statement on
Instagram.

“When I made this decision, I just felt like ‘yes, this is the best decision’. I don’t want to fade out. I want to leave a legacy and it’s best to retire when fans ask ‘why, you still have some more in you, you still could go for a bit longer’ than say, ‘yeah, you should have done it years back’”.

While admitting it was a difficult decision to part ways in a playing capacity, Mysore believes both Russell and KKR are at peace with their decision.

“I’ve had a few of these types of conversations over the 15 years I’ve been running the franchise — very rarely do players feel like they are done,” Mysore told ESPNcricinfo.

“They always feel like, oh yeah, I’ve got cricket left in me — one year, two years, three years…that’s where his head was also and he’s probably right, but he also realised by the time 2026 IPL comes around, he’ll be 38. He’s a natural athlete, but body and age do catch up. But somewhere that [retirement] conversation did come up as an option and he gave it more thought. For a variety of reasons, it appealed to him and said, yeah, why not? Let’s do this.”

2015 and 2019 MVP Russell scored nearly 2,600 runs and over 120 wickets for KKR, making him one of two players in the history of the IPL to score over 2,000 runs and pick up 100 wickets.

Despite losing his on field contributions, Mysore says his impact will be felt in a new way as part of the team’s coaching staff.

“I said what are you best known for? It is your ability to come in and finish games with very few balls left and go from ball one. With his bowling as well, he has always been one of these enforcer type of bowlers. Then fielding also, I’ve never seen somebody as athletic as him,” said Mysore.

“When you bring them together, it’s all about power, everything that he did so I said, ‘we will call you power coach.’ That put a smile on his face and it’s probably the first of its kind that there’s such a terminology given to someone who can come in and help so it’s more than coaching, it’s also a lot about communicating with certain types of players who are going to play that role, which Dre was playing so well, and basically talking about his experiences.”

Despite his IPL retirement, Russell remains contracted to the Knight Riders ownership in other leagues including the Caribbean Premier League with Trinbago.

Russell joins fellow West Indians Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo who moved into coaching roles in the IPL following their retirement.

In this undated photo, all-rounder Andre Russell bowls for Kolkata Knight Riders.