Chris Gayle terms Virat Kohli as an “inspiration”

08/04/2018

Chris Gayle has stated that Virat Kohli’s brilliant performance on Day 2 of the first Test between India and England has been a huge inspiration for him because Kohli played an exceptional innings. He was referring to the way Kohli managed to keep the scoreboard ticking whilst playing with the tail.

India, who lost the first Test of its tour of England, had started the first innings on a very shallow note as the top order collapsed due to the fierce bowling attack of the Englishmen. However, Kohli came in to balance the game in India’s favour as he played a beautiful innings of 149 runs. He held the innings together in an impressive manner despite playing large parts with the tailenders. Kohli’s well-anticipated performance in the game acted as a strong inspiration for his former RCB teammate, Chris Gayle.

“I saw the highlights of Virat’s knock and it's fantastic. He has the ability to inspire his whole team. The way he batted with the lower order on thursday, it showed that his batting partners wanted to perform for their captain. Virat as a captain is not in the face of his teammates. He lets you do your own thing. He is fearless and that shows his cricket. Mentally he is very strong. When you can get your players to fight for you and your country, thats when youre a good leader. He is definitely inspiration,” Gayle said, reported TOI.

Cricket has undergone some major changes in recent times - be the use of two balls in ODIs or the new demerit system. While the general consensus is that cricket is more of batsmen’s game, Chris Gayle believes that it is a two-way street.

“They have changed the bat and cut down the size of the bat because the bowlers were complaining. I'm really hurt and disappointed. We both are disappointed in certain areas when the laws change. The changes are to improve the sport. Some may be happy some may be not,” Gayle added.

Gayle, who is almost 39, is now at the fag end of a wonderful career that has seen him become one of the most lethal batsmen in cricket, particularly in T20 cricket. Despite all his talent, the Jamaican has not played a Test for his country since 2014 and was only recently recalled to the ODI side. However, the destructive opener has clarified that he would want to play in another World Cup for the Windies.

“I don't know about test cricket, the objective at the moment is the 2019 World cup. Then we have the T-20 world cups in 2020 and 2021. I'll look at taking part in those as well. I’ll sit down with the captain, coach and selectors and talk about how can we prolong my career and look after my body as well. I'll look to keep playing the leagues as well in order to stay active,” Gayle concluded.

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