Chris Gayle batting position: Kings XI Punjab will have to make a tough decision with respect to the Universe Boss’ batting position tonight.
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During the 31st match of the ongoing 13th season of the Indian Premier League between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab in Sharjah, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has won the toss and chose to bat for yet another time in the tournament.
While Bangalore haven’t made any change to their Playing XI, Kings XI Punjab have made as many as three changes to put their best foot forward in a must-win match.
“We were looking to bat first as well. Just looking to get a couple of wickets and put pressure on them. We all feel we deserve more than two points. We have played good cricket and have lost a couple of close games.
No pressure – Universe Boss @henrygayle #Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/3WLNjcoW72
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) October 15, 2020
“We have come here looking to win this game and be the best team we can. Everybody knows that all games are must wins for us from hereon. It’s not a bad place to be in, we need to bring our A game and do our best,” Kings XI captain Lokesh Rahul said during the toss.
Chris Gayle batting position vs RCB
As far as the changes are concerned, Punjab have reinstated spinner Murugan Ashwin into their Playing XI and included veteran batsman Chris Gayle and all-rounder Deepak Hooda for the first time this season.
Rahul also informed that their batsman Mandeep Singh suffered an injury during training yesterday. Other than Mandeep, wicket-keeper batsman Prabhsimran Singh and spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman have also been benched for this match.
With Punjab opening batsmen in Rahul and Mayank Agarwal also the two highest run-scorers of the tournament till now, it will be interesting to see if the team management decides to disturb the one thing which has worked for them in IPL 2020.
“We’ll see the batting order after how the first innings goes. Chris [Gayle] coming in gives us a lot of energy,” Rahul answered on being asked about Gayle’s batting position.
Gayle, who has it in him to change the course of the game at the top of the order, hasn’t batted anywhere else than the opening position in his 126 IPL matches. It is worth mentioning that the same holds true for his 54 T20I innings as well.