Why is Andre Russell not picked for T20I series against South Africa?

Andre Russell recently played in The Hundred for London Spirit.

West Indies will be without three of their premier players in the upcoming home T20I series against South Africa. One of them is all-rounder Andre Russell, who has made himself unavailable for this series for West Indies despite recently featuring in the Major League Cricket in the USA and The Hundred in England.

On Sunday, Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced a 15-man squad for the three-T20I series against the Proteas. Rovman Powell’s side will host Aiden Markram’s team for three games in the shortest format from August 23 to 27.

All three T20Is will be played at the Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba, Trinidad.

Why is Andre Russell not picked for the T20I series against South Africa?

Russell, Jason Holder and Alzarri Joseph will not be part of the WI vs SA series as they have been rested, with Russell particularly requesting the board for rest.

CWI’s director of cricket Miles Bascombe said, “Andre Russell requested a period of rest and recovery as well as Jason Holder who played five back-to-back five Tests against England and South Africa. During this period, they will work closely with the CWI science and medicine team.”

The 36-year-old has played three T20 tournaments in a row in the past few months: ICC T20 World Cup, MLC and Hundred.

Alzarri Joseph, who was West Indies’ vice-captain at the T20 World Cup, was rested from the test series against South Africa and his resting period has been extended.

“As far as Alzarri is concerned, it always helps to have a period of time away from the game to work on your individual skills, because you could get drawn into moving from one tournament to the next and might actually lose some of your skills,” West Indies’ red-ball coach Andre Coley said.

West Indies squad for South Africa T20Is:

Rovman Powell (C), Roston Chase (VC), Alick Athanaze, Fabian Allen, Johnson Charles, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Obed McCoy, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd

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