Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) assistant coach Andy Flower has backed Chris Gayle to come good in the upcoming games as the 'Universe Boss' failed to get going in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2021).
Gayle has so far played all games for the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the ongoing IPL 2021, scoring just 76 runs at an average of 19 and a strike rate of 118, and on Wednesday (April 21), the West Indian scored 15 off 17 balls as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) thrashed PBKS by 9 wickets in Chennai.
On Gayle's sluggish knock against SRH on Wednesday, Flower said the 41-year-old has a different style of batting which didn't quite come off in their last IPL 14 contest as he surrendered to Rashid Khan.
Flower said in a virtual press conference: “Chris has tons of experience. He has scored a lot of runs in all formats of the game over the years and he does it slightly differently. He has got the power we saw when he hit one of the seamers. He didn't quite stay long enough today as he got out at hands of top-class performer Rashid Khan.”
The PBKS assistant coach added, “Shahrukh Khan again showed composure and played a slightly different inning to power the innings we know he can play. Our whole batting group needs to play with more understanding and skills when we come in two days' time.”
Meanwhile, after winning the toss, PBKS decided to bat first and the decision backfired as a dominating bowling effort from Khaleel Ahmed (3/21) and Abhishek Sharma (2/24) helped SRH restrict Punjab to a paltry 120 in 19.4 overs – which Hyderabad chased down with eight balls to spare, thanks to Jonny Bairstow’s unbeaten knock of 63 off 56 balls at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Reacting to the PBKS’ performance against SRH, Flower stated: “The conditions were pretty tough today for batting, we knew it was going to be tough before the game started. So I don't think, we handled it as well as we could have. We lost wickets early and even though we had long batting (Fabien Allen) but we still struggled to get a total that could have test SRH.”
He signed off by saying, “I think on a pitch like this you got to be quite canny about the way you approach there won't be many boundaries certainly not playing like in Mumbai, so weren't quite good enough to get a 140 or 150 on this pitch which I think could have really tested the opposition.”
Noteworthy, Punjab Kings will next lock horns against the defending champions Mumbai Indians on Friday (April 23) at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
(With ANI Inputs)
