When the Universe Boss gets going, there’s just no stopping him! Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) batsman, Chris Gayle, proved why he is one of the greatest batsmen in T20 cricket once again withy his pyrotechnics against Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 Match No. 50 on Friday. The big-hitting West Indian, however, was cleaned up just 1-run short of his first century of the season, courtesy Jofra Archer.
The Royals speedster who has been in sensational form this season, once again provided his team with the all-important breakthrough but his on-field activities drew special attention towards an off-field activity of his as one of his tweets from the year 2013 resurfaced online.
Archer’s franchise, Rajasthan Royals, themselves shared the pacer’s tweet on the micro-blogging website, calling it ‘100% true’. “I know if I was bowling I know he wasn’t getting da 100”, Archer had tweeted back then.
The case when Archer came out to bowl to Gayle in the final over of the innings spoke the same story as the English pacer bowled the Universe Boss on 99, leaving the latter swinging his bat in frustration.
A sensational show of batting was put on the display in Abu Dhabi on Friday where Rajasthan ended Punjab’s 5-match unbeaten run to remain alive in the playoffs race. The high-scoring IPL encounter saw Gayle emerge as the top-scoring batsman with a 63-ball 99.
Despite such a magnificent performance with the bat, Gayle saw the Man of the Match award being given to RR’s Ben Stokes who produced an excellent all-round show to play a pivotal role in the team’s triumph.
Stokes claimed two important wickets of Rahul and Nicholas Pooran with the ball and also scored a scintillating 26-ball 50 to lay the foundation of RR’s chase of 186 runs. He also grabbed a magnificent catch of Mandeep Singh in the very first over of the match to assert his credentials in all departments of the game.
