In its 2020 Almanack, Wisden has named Andre Russell as their leading Twenty20 cricketer in the world for 2019.

Following an outstanding year in both a franchise and international level, Russell scoring 1,080 runs in total in T20 cricket, at a strike rate of 182, while also taking 46 wickets.

According to Wisden: “His exploits with Kolkata Knight Riders – 510 runs and 11 wickets – won him the Most Valuable Player award. His tally of 52 sixes was 18 clear of the next (Chris Gayle), and not far off Gayle’s IPL record 59, in 2012. Yet it was Russell’s ability to overhaul seemingly impossible targets that set him apart.”

Russell credited his rise to the lessons learned while serving a one-year anti-doping ban between 2017 and 2018, the suspension triggered after he missed three tests,” Wisden said.

“I changed my mentality since I got banned,” Russell said. “I was slacking off. I was big. I was lazy. I wasn’t practising hard. I came back stronger, leaner, more muscular. I’m hitting the ball effortlessly for six.”

The Jamaican all-rounder competed in five domestic T20 competitions, from the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL to the Dhaka Dynamites in the Bangladesh Premier League, making the most of every opportunity to stamp his authority as one of the best players in the world in the format.