Photo: BCCI
The Universe Boss is back! And he is back in style. After sitting out for seven consecutive matches the T20 legend Christopher Henry Gayle finally got his chance in the playing eleven of Kings XI Punjab. And the big man made a statement in his first return match itself with a match-winning half-century, batting out of his comfort position at number three, he scored a much needed 53 runs in 45 balls.
Even since Kings XI Punjab was struggling to get few wins under their belt, there were popular demands to bring back Gayle into the playing eleven. But despite such demands, KXIP stuck with their initial plan. But followed was a string of defeats. This forced them to bring in Chris Gayle. And this time he was seen in a new avatar. Since the opening duo of Mayank ad Rahul has been playing well, they decided to stick with them as openers and pushed Gayle to the number three spot.
Chasing an above par score of 172 set by the RCB batsmen, KXIP started off in a pretty good fashion. Both their openers Rahul and Mayank provided them much-needed firepower and stability at the top of the batting order. Mayank went after scoring a well-structured 45 of 25 balls. And the man who came in next was Christopher Henry Gayle.
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Gayle started off his innings in his usual fashion. He took the time to get set. And finally, when he was ready to launch his monstrous sixes, he targeted one of the best bowlers in the tournament- Washington Sundar. He whacked him for two maximums in the thirteenth over and followed it up with another two sixes against Sundar itself in the 17th over as well. Adding one more six that he hit against Siraj, he in total hit 5 sixes and ended his innings on 53 runs from 45 balls. He was run-out in the second last ball of the match. But KXIP managed to win the match, courtesy of a six from Pooran in the last ball.
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