Chris Gayle: Forget about current IPL form, all Indian players are match winners
Though not all the Indian batsmen have had the best of times in the ongoing IPL 2017, Chris Gayle has backed all of them to come good in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. Moreover, given the tournament will be held in England and Wales, Gayle believes that the conditions will also play a big part.
Chris Gayle is someone who’s known for his match winning abilities. However, what distinguishes him from the rest is that he can also identify a fellow match-winner. And given the number of impact players that the Indian team possesses in their ranks, Gayle made no mistake in acknowledging their abilities.
However, there is no denying the fact that not all of India’s best batsmen have set the ongoing IPL 2017 on fire, with the likes of Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh struggling for form. But Gayle still backs the Indian batting order to collectively fire in England next month, owing to the different format in question.
The Indian Express quoted Gayle as saying, “The good thing about T20 cricket is that it’s a very quick format compared to ODI cricket, where you can give yourself a chance to bat a bit longer. It gives you more time to get set. With IPL pushed aside now, they (Kohli, Jadhav) will have enough time to regroup. If the Indian top-order batsmen get set, we all know how dangerous they can be. We all look forward to that. Forget about the current IPL form, all of them are match winners.”
Ann Gayle is certain that the Champions Trophy will be a whole different story. “Everybody will be eager to become a standout man to win the tournament for their team. They will be hungry to prove a point.”
Moreover, the conditions in England have always been tricky for visiting teams to adapt to and based on his previous experience of playing in the country, Gayle believes that the weather will be a challenge for the Indians, as well.
“I am not a ‘Weather Man’ to tell you about the sort of climate you will get but
Gayle and his RCB side have experienced a radical turn in their fortunes after finishing runners-up in last year’s IPL. And Virat Kohli’s form in this IPL is perhaps the most symbolic of RCB’s decline. Kohli had managed to score a mammoth 964 runs in last year’s edition, as compared to just 308 this year and as expected, a lot has been made of both Kohli and Bangalore’s performance this year.
However, Gayle had sympathy for Kohli as he said, “You feel for Virat when he has to put forth his views at post-match presentations when the team loses so consistently. You can see he is at loss for words. What reason can he give match after match?."
“But then he knows that he is the leader of the pack. But when a team loses, we are all in it. All I can say is that we would like to put up a far better show next time
Did you know, Gayle is the only player to reach the 10,000 runs milestone in T20 cricket.
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