Windiescricket.com
There has been some joy and there has been some fun for our sensational West Indies players at this year’s Indian Premier League tournament. The Men in Maroon have highlighted the event with some super human performances and we have witnessed some unbelievable displays with bat, with the ball and in the field.
Enter, Chris Gayle. At age 41, the undisputed king of T20, wasted no time and breathed new life into what was a listless campaign for King’s XI Punjab. His 276 runs have come in six knocks with three half-centuries – including a magnificent 99 today against Rajasthan Royals. In that knock he hit eight sixes – which took him the 1000 maximums in his career. He’s way, way, way ahead of the others – next in line is Kieron Pollard (690), Brendon McCullum (485), Shane Watson (467) and Andre Russell (447).
Overall this season Gayle has smashed 15 sixes. His IPL career stats showcase a mind-blowing 349 sixes – which is 119 more than the next man in line. And don’t forget he has the highest score in the event’s history – 175 not out when he wore a younger man’s clothes at Royal Challengers Bangalore. These numbers have been additional evidence if we ever needed it – that Universe Boss is the undisputed king of this format.
Also, we’ve seen the strong leadership of our white ball skipper Kieron Pollard when he took over for Mumbai Indians and they have qualified for the business end of the tournament – which is being played in the United Arab Emirates. He has so far made 218 runs with a whopping 18 sixes at an average of 109 and strike rate of 200 – by far the most superior this season.
Nicholas Pooran, at age 25, has been the game-changer at King’s XI Punjab. Flashback to his super-human fielding on the boundary at Sharjah when he dived full body length to take a catch and flick the ball back to save a six. Then add to that his batting exhibitions for King’s XI Punjab and you can see he is a player on the rise.