Andre Russell joined numerous legendary names of T20 cricket on Thursday (June 13) after he was included in West Indies' playing XI for the 26th match of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup against New Zealand. Russell became only the fifth player in the history of T20 cricket to play 500 or more games.
The star West Indian allrounder has joined Kieron Pollard, Shoaib Malik, Sunil Narine and Dwayne Bravo in the illustrious list. Notably, Pollard is the most capped player in the T20 format with 660 appearances. He is followed by Dwayne Bravo (573), Shoaib Malik (542) and Sunil Narine (513).
Players with the most T20 appearances
| Player | Matches |
| Kieron Pollard | 660 |
| Dwayne Bravo | 573 |
| Shoaib Malik | 542 |
| Sunil Narine | 513 |
| Andre Russell | 500 |
| David Miller | 481 |
| Ravi Bopara | 466 |
| Chris Gayle | 463 |
| Alex Hales | 454 |
| Rohit Sharma | 442 |
West Indies storm into Super Eight
West Indies defeated New Zealand by 13 runs in the 26th match of the tournament to book a place in the Super Eight stage of the marque ICC tournament. The Men in Maroon had a horrid day with the bat in hand but a calm and composed knock by Sherfane Rutherford (68* off 39) balls helped them post 149 on the board before their bowlers exercised discipline with the ball to seal the game.
Rutherford was adjudged Player of the Match (POTM) for his heroic effort and the southpaw opened up on taking the game deep before going berserk at the end.
"I want to thank God for the opportunity. I was just telling myself to take it deep. Me and Sammy (Darren) had a talk and I knew if we got momentum, I could make it up in the end. Looking at their bowling line-up, I knew they were short of two overs. I knew they had to make up those overs and I wanted to maximise it," said Rutherford during the post-match presentation.
