Legendary West Indies batsman Brian Lara expressed his ‘disappointments’ over the selection of the Kings XI Punjab team for their 2020 IPL match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Lara said that KXIP should have included Chris Gayle in their Playing XI against KKR. Instead, they dropped left-arm pacemaker Sheldon Cottrell and brought England SUV Chris Jordan back to the side.
“I’m really disappointed (that Gayle isn’t there). Chris Gayle is a scare factor … We’ve seen Jordan, he hasn’t been very good in the IPL so far, I’m not saying he’s a bad player, but I think packing the hitting with Chris Gayle is something they should. ‘ done, “Lara said on the pregame show on Star Sports.
KKR vs KXIP, IPL 2020 live
KXIP decided to retain Maxwell and Lara said she really has no problem with that. He said KXIP should have included Gayle instead of Cottrell and relied on his Indian bowling lineup to get the job done.
Imagine a hitting lineup with KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal and Glenn Maxwell, they could chase anything. So yeah, Cottrell and I would bring Chris Gayle and rely on my Indian bowling attack, ”Lara added.
Gayle, who holds multiple records in T20, including the most runs and most sixes, has yet to play a match in this Indian Premier League.
However, KXIP head coach Anil Kumble had stated that they wanted to include Gayle in Playing XI in their previous match against SRH, but they had to change plans as Gayle was ill.
“Today we wanted Chris Gayle in Game XI, but unfortunately he’s sick,” Kumble told the announcers during SRH’s innings.
When Mark Nicholas again questioned Kumble about Gayle, the former India captain and head coach said: “Yes, Gayle was going to play, but he has been intoxicated with food for the last couple of days.”
There was no official word on Gayle’s health from KXIP prior to the start of her match against KKR.
Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Saturday chose to hit first after winning the toss. made a change to his game XI since his last match against Chennai Super Kings. The side led by Dinesh Karthik brought Prasidh Krishna instead of Shivam Mavi.
KKR playing XI: Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik (c), Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy.
KXIP playing XI: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Prabhsimran Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Mandeep Singh, Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, Mohammad Shami, Chris Jordon, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh.
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