Chris Gayle to play in IPL
In IPL 2011, he was flown to replace the injured Dirk Nanes, who was not sold at auction, and scored 102 off 55 runs against the Kolkata Knight Riders, then to become his old-fashioned jet-lag. In IPL 2018, almost unbeaten in the auction, Kings XI Punjab took the last over, eventually scoring 63 off 33 runs in a row against defending champions Chennai Super Kings.
More than half of the league stage was spent on the bench or sick bay with IPL 2020 Gayle. The first match he got after the redemption was against the owner, who became a superstar in 2011, but who did not bid for him in 2018, Royal Challengers Bangalore. A successful trip is pre-determined.
The Royal Challengers were ready to face Gayle. Prior to this match, Gayle’s strike rate against off-spin in the IPL was 111.78, which is 150 north of his overall IPL strike rate. The Royal Challengers are at the pinnacle of their game in this tournament with Washington Sunder, a player, economic ratio with the best matches. Anything Bowler. If Gayle opens, Sunder can throw the ball in the power play, he did it often. If he doesn’t, Sundar can throw the ball whenever he comes. He had done that too. Gayle came out to bat after the last ball of the eighth over and Sundar bowled the ninth ball.
At first, the plan seemed to work. In Sundar’s first two overs, Gayle faced seven balls, of which he took only four singles. Then, as he did many times in his T20 career, Gayle tore the project into small pieces.
Not that Sunder threw the ball badly, but the exemplary command he showed for a long time in all matches was destroyed. Gayle will face nine more balls from Sundar and they are missing for 28 runs. Almost everyone scored by Gayle style six.
Gayle’s 53 off 45 runs was almost coincidental. What he showed in his innings was another repetition of the Gayle method. He was not interested in strike rates at the start of his innings. His main focus is on measuring the pace of the pitch and evaluating the bowlers. He Can Don’t worry because he knows he has a lot of great stuff in T20 cricket: hitting sixes.
In the T20s, Gayle’s method was measured on his batting surface, and the bowling attack naturally considered each ball to have a chance of six hits. That’s how he sets himself up, the position, the front leg is always on the exit edge, the bat swings more. He should think like this to hit the number of sixes he has: 983 and counting in T20 cricket. Kieron Pollard is second in 685th place, with no one else surpassing even 500. What is the fastest way to travel 100 km? You can get there in an hour by driving fast in the hatchback. If your racing car warms up you can spend the first 10 kilometers covering 10 minutes, and then zooming in for the next 90 to 45 minutes, you will come faster.
On Thursday, Gayle was 7 for 15 off one point. It is only natural that he should have scored 46 off his next 30 balls. Gayle’s strike rate in the first ten balls of his innings in all IPLs was only one run per ball. That strike rate has never been an issue because of the way Gail trades a slow start with the ability to destroy its boundaries. In his autobiography, Six engine, He gives a glimpse of his process, “Wild swinging won’t win games for you … I tear the attacks to pieces, but I hit my prey first.”
He details it by listing what he counts when batting in a T20 match: which bowler will bowl, to whom the ball may be given at any point, which bowler must aim for a major over and the bowling captain must force his change. “Who am I resisting? How can they hurt me? How can I hurt them?”
How the T20 works. Gayle thus acts with a deep understanding of design and his own game. He has done it better than anyone in the history of the game.
The science behind Gail’s batting is hidden in her showpotting facade, but it is. Before this match he said that he is more happy with the fans than himself because they will finally see him bat in the IPL. After that, “Now I can finish the IPL by 2020 and make myself available for 2021. Get out of the bubble now, go!”
But in between, he came out too: “It’s frustrating to be honest with you, you’re not really here to sit around, but it’s what it is. It’s a little relaxing for me, but not completely stressful.
In his luxury, Gayle was almost indestructible in the T20s. If he settles the conditions, the six-foot mayhem is almost guaranteed. He is no longer in that prime, the eyes can not quickly find the length, the reflex at age 41 is not the same as in the early 30s, and the body resists. But given the right circumstances, Gayle showed that he could still be a force. The fall of Sundara is proof of that. Sunder was bowled out for 17 in the IPL. All batsmen were able to land balls at disturbed lengths: not enough to drive, too short to pull, running faster than most spin bowlers. Gayle hit for unbeaten sixes in those two balls, which created immense power for the old batsmen, which most batsmen cannot.
He was there and did it. Than often. Now he is back to do it again.
