[caption id="attachment_11723" align="alignnone" width="580"]Andre-Russell-with-Shahrukh Andre Russell with Shahrukh Khan after winning the IPL 7 in Bengaluru.[/caption] Kolkata: He is definitely the golden eyed boy in the Kolkata Knight Riders team. Andre Russell did show in the first match against Delhi Daredevils he is here to bring back the glory for KKR. The player of the tournament in the last season with 326 runs and 14 wickets from 13 matches, Russell is confident to do well in the season ahead. Xtratime.in caught up with the Jamaican for an exclusive interview at the team hotel. Here are the excerpts: XT) How has the celebration been like after returning back to the Caribbean as World T20 champions? AR) Actually I didn’t do much you know. Cricket doesn’t stop for me. What I did was gone home and spent few days with my family and friends. Just do normal stuff enjoying with my family. Just wanted to spend as much time with them because I am back again in India. The WorldT20 title was very good for us . Other guys may be celebrating. I am still celebrating it in my mind. That’s gone already. XT) How do you describe the journey of winning the World T20 title? AR) It’s been a tough journey for us honestly; When we first got here we did not have lot of stuffs other international teams have. We are from an environment where we used to have nothing . We did not make noises about the gear. We did not have kit bags, don’t have uniforms. We didn’t have the support from our cricket board. We just come here and enjoyed our cricket. We just come here and worked hard for the title.We knew as players how important it will be for players to do well for the people of West Indies back home. XT) You were adjudged the Player of the Tournament in the last edition. Can we see a similar performance from you this season as well? AR) Well I would like to take game by game. For the last couple of years I have been with KKR. What I want to do is to try and get the best performances .Try and make use of every opportunity. I enjoy playing here and being comfortable. The support staff, coaching staff everyone is like a family. It make things easier for me as I do not have adjust. Definitely look forward to repeat that and winning the championship. To be in the losing team is feeling like you do well but you could have done better in order to be the champion. End of the day we need to take step by step. XT) You opened the bowling in the last match against Delhi Daredevils. What will be your plan against Rohit Sharma? AR) I just gonna keep it simple. He is a human being, he can make mistake. Last night I had a good night with the ball. Jet lag getting in the morning but I knew how important it was it give the team a winning start. I went for 13 runs in my first over but Gambhir called me up and gave me the second over. A lot of captain wouldn’t do that. Those things make me feel comfortable. It is very important how a captain can make you feel. XT) Last season the Knight Riders were off to a great start but gave it away in the later stages. What are your thoughts? AR) In modern day cricket you cannot take anything for granted. Some times when things are going your way you feel complacent. You lose a game and you try to catch up and it does not work. Once you are winning just make sure that you don’t give up. When you feel like not going to practice you have to make sure you go. The way you treat cricket, it will also treat you similarly. I have learnt that playing cricket in different parts of the world playing a lot of cricket. XT) Can we see you doing the champion dance with team owner Shahrukh Khan? AR) Off course, I was here last night. If Shahrukh was here he would have enjoyed as well. We all enjoyed the celebration last night. They were chipping in very well. It was fun to see them on the dance floor. Hopefully we will make Shahrukh champion dance in the final at Wankhede.        

Exclusive: Will make Shahrukh Champion Dance on May 29