Kings XI Punjab’s fortunes have changed since the arrival of Chris Gayle. Having lost six games in a row, KXIP broke their losing streak with a win against Royal Challengers Bangalore last week and most recently, beat Mumbai Indians in a Super Over on Sunday to make it two wins from two matches.
Against RCB, Gayle hit a half-century, while on Sunday, he was given the responsibility of taking strike in the second Super Over of the match after the first one ended in a tie – the second time it has happened in IPL’s history. Needing 12 to win, Gayle tonked the first ball – a full toss from Trent Boult – over the ropes, before Mayank Agarwal finished the match for KXIP.
After the match, Gayle revealed that although there were no nerves, he was in fact angry that KXIP let the game slip. In chase of 177, KXIP were 108/2 before losing four wickets after one another and ended with the scores tied.
“No I wasn’t nervous (laughs). I was a bit more angry and upset that we got ourselves in this position,” Gayle told Agarwal on IPLT20.com. “But it’s a game of cricket and these things do happen.”
Although it was KXIP captain KL Rahul who took the Player of the Match Award for his knock of 77, Gayle reckoned the real winner for him was Mohammed Shami, who bowled that fantastic over for KXIP. Shami defended six runs against Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma in the first Super Over, pushing the game into a second tie-breaker.
“Shami is the man of the match for me,” Gayle continued. “To defend six runs against Rohit and de Kock, that’s fantastic. That’s a great job. I have faced you in the nets and I know that you can nail those yorkers, and nail them well. Today he came and delivered and brought it home for us.”
Source: IPLT20.com