Gayle along with Mayank Agarwal helped KXIP chase the target in the second Super Over
Chris Gayle may have won the game for Kings XI Punjab in the second Super Over, but he wasn’t nervous before going out to bat. Instead, he was “angry and upset” that KXIP was in a position they knew all too well this season. Fortunately, his team ended up on the winning side this time and all it took was a pair of Super Overs.
Behind the first tied Super Over was Mohammed Shami, who wanted to “nail six yorkers” according to KL Rahul and ended up conceding just 5/1. His feat forced a second Super Over, which KXIP would win for its third victory this season.
“No, I wasn’t nervous (laughs). I was a little more angry and upset for putting us in this position,” Gayle told Mayank Agarwal on IPLT20.com. “But it is a game of cricket and these things happen.
“Shami is the man of the match for me,” Gayle continued. “Defending six runs against Rohit and De Kock, it’s fantastic. It’s a great job. I’ve faced you on the nets and I know you can catch those Yorkers, and catch them well. Today he came, delivered it, and brought it home to us. “
Shami revealed how we were able to catch Yorker after Yorker in such a tense situation; the trick was not to think too much and not too far.
“It was very difficult,” Shami said. “When you have 15-17 runs to defend in the Super Over, it’s a completely different matter. You believe in the back of your mind that you can do it. But when the margin of error is so small, you focus on what I can do better. I believe a lot in my yorkers … I don’t know what people think. When I was coming back to the top of my mark on each ball, I would say to myself: ‘This last ball was great. The next ball will be great too.’ I repeated six times. “
Chris Jordan, who pitched the second Super Over and held the opponent through 11 runs, praised Mohammed Shami for giving away just five runs in the first to tie the game.
“The way we threw those two super overs, it shows the character of the team. The way Shami threw that to defend 6 runs, that effort was tremendous,” Jordan said at the press conference. “The energy in our team is incredible. We have some tremendous players in our team. And we still have Maxwell to come out, that’s very encouraging. It was a team effort today. Young Arshdeep has been playing well for us since he arrived in The team. He probably missed the yorker by a few inches, but Pollard’s strength and class showed up on those occasions. It’s an area we can improve. “
Jordan also said Gayle has had a substantial impact since returning to the side. The seasoned activist compiled a crucial fifty against the Royal Challengers Bangalore and followed it up by leading the Punjab home in the second Super Over. “You see the impact that legend Chris Gayle has had in the last two games. Not playing for a while, and scoring half a century and then finishing the game in the super today for us, it’s been tremendous.”
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