Published: May 09, 2011, 10:25 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 20, 2014, 11:12 PM (IST)
By Nishad Pai Vaidya
Christopher Henry Gayle has brought new life into the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) camp. When the auction took place in January this year, the former West Indies captain found no takers, to everybody’s surprise. However, when Dirk Nannes was injured and Bangalore were struggling in the wrong half of the table with just three points from five games, Gayle was called up as a replacement. The move has proved to be a masterstroke as Gayle has bludgeoned the bowling and has scored two hundreds already.
What one must acknowledge is that whenever Gayle has to prove a point, he does in style. As we all know he wasn’t picked by any franchise in the auction; to add to that he was also left out by the West Indies selectors just for the ODI series against Pakistan, just prior to his arrival in India. It looks like he took this up as a challenge and has scored 328 runs in 5 games at an astronomical average of 82. His strike rate is unbelievable: a whooping 205! It just goes to show how much he has dominated the bowlers this season.
In January, a day after the disappointment at the auction, Gayle turned up for Western Australia in the KFC T20 Big Bash and scored 61 off just 31 balls, lacing the park with eight fours and four sixes. It was a signal to the IPL franchises that they had made mistake and it was his bat that did the talking. He didn’t stop there as he went on to score 92 off just 40 balls against Queensland two weeks later.
When the West Indies team captaincy was taken away from him, he responded with a magnificent 333 against Sri Lanka at Galle in the first Test of their tour to the Emerald Isle late last year. This knock was made up of 34 fours and nine sixes.
When you look at Gayle in this edition of the IPL, he looks like a man who is enjoying his cricket. His body language looks positive and assertive, which has helped lift the mood in the RCB camp and has brought a lot of positive energy into the team. When you have won just one out of five games, the mood in the camp cannot be very upbeat. To change it, a team requires a brilliant individual or a collective performance. Gayle changed it in his very first match for them as he scored a brilliant hundred against the Kolkata Knight Riders, his former team. When he walked off the ground, he made a signal to the camera which indicated that the bat talks. His bat is not just talking it is in fact delivering powerful oration!
Since Gayle’s arrival, Bangalore have won all their five matches. A lot of the credit has to go to him as he has provided them with four brilliant knocks. His two hundreds were absolutely amazing, but his 44 off just 16 against Kochi is an innings that would be remembered for a long time. A total of 126 was never going to be a big challenge unless the Kochi bowlers produced something extraordinary. More than half the target was reached within four overs as Gayle dealt with the Kochi bowlers in severe fashion.
It is not just the way he bats that has helped Bangalore but even his cool and calm behavior on the field. He is out there to enjoy the game and when a senior player in the team has that attitude it automatically rubs off on the others. What a sight it is to see him celebrate after picking up a wicket! The action of the train and the hoping bird have entertained crowds and has made them wait for him to come on to bowl and pick up wickets so that they get to see him do them again. It is also great to see the way he has got along with his teammates. He always has a smile and a word of encouragement for his bowlers once they pick up wickets. For me the moment that would stand out would be his jig with Virat Kohli after picking up a wicket in one of their recent games. It just shows the effect he has had on the players in a very short span of time.
RCB really needed something like this to get their campaign back on track. With Tillakaratne Dilshan leaving early for Sri Lanka’s tour to England, the Gayle factor becomes even more crucial for Bangalore’s success. Going by their current form, RCB should make it to the top four and fans would hope that the Gayle storm continues.
(Nishad Pai Vaidya, a 20-year-old law student, is a club and college-level cricketer. His teachers always complain, “He knows the stats and facts of cricket more than the subjects we teach him.”)
