Indore: Kings XI Punjab speedster Andrew Tye heaped praise on his side’s explosive opener Chris Gayle, saying the West Indian played to perfection during his unbeaten knock of 104 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL match on Thursday night.
Gayle’s 63-ball unbeaten innings, which included 11 sixes, helped KXIP post a total of 193/3. In reply, the Sunrisers fell short by 15 runs.
“Gayle played to perfection. He made sure that he stayed there till the end. You don’t often see (spinner Rashid) Khan get hit for more than 25 in one over. To make Rashid concede that many runs (55 in four overs) was awesome,” Tye said.
Tye said Gayle’s shot selection and execution was spot on.
“I think he went about it very well. He knew that once he got through the power play, the spin would come on and then he got into the rhythm against the spin. I think he was very smart about it not to take too many risks against the pacers (early on),” he said.
Asked what would have been his plans if you he was bowling to Gayle, Tye said that there is not much a bowler could do in such a situation and only hope that the batsman makes some mistake.
“I guess you could try and get him off strike, but at the same time as pace bowlers you want to get him out because you know you have spin to come and he is lining up to attack them. It is different for every pitch you play on, tonight might have been the case of going short at him or could have been the case of just try him play some big shots and make him miss one,” said the Australian.
Tye, who claimed two wickets including the crucial wicket of Sunrisers skipper Kane Williamson when he was going great guns, said KXIP have got a good variety in their bowling attack.
He said apart from Mohit Sharma, Barinder Sran, skipper Ravichandran Ashwin, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and he himself, there are couple of others too who can bowl as well which makes the side a balanced unit. He said KXIP bowlers on their day can bowl a team out for less than 100.
Tye said will be “a few selection headaches” for his team when Axar Patel is fit and available for selection.
Sunrisers bowler Siddharth Kaul too praised Gayle on the way he played.
Asked what was the mindset of a bowler when a player like Gayle was in a destructive form, Kaul said, “The mindset is to get your execution right and bowl in the right areas. We were planning it that way only, but tough luck that his execution was better than ours and every shot he played was getting connected.
“Gayle was executing smartly and he was challenging our main bowlers and he played really well,” Kaul said.
The West Indian 38-year-old Gayle said he still has plenty to offer.“ A lot of people thought I’m too old. After this innings, I have nothing to prove,” he said.
Gayle was only selected in the third round of bidding for players by IPL teams for the 2018 season. Punjab signed him for just the $314,000 reserve price in the January auction.
He has made only two appearances so far but played a big innings each time. The opener blasted 63 off 33 balls in his side’s win over Chennai Super Kings on the weekend.
“I’m always determined, wherever I go in the world and whichever franchise I represent,” the destructive left-hander said.
“Hats off to Chris, he was at his best,” Sunrisers captain Williamson said. “It was a fantastic hundred and they deserved the win. We weren’t up to the mark.”
