Universe Boss Chris Gayle was benched for the first two games of Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in this Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Finally, the day came when he found a spot in the playing XI against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 15. While Punjab was plying at their home ground, Gayle went with all his guns ablaze and smashed a fiery half-century.
In the IPL match number 12, Gayle opened the innings for Punjab alongside KL Rahul. Since Rahul took the strike first, Gayle had to play the first ball in the second over. It was legendary Indian leggie Harbhajan Singh who was brought into the attack and was welcomed with a four. Right from the first ball, Gayle had clarified his intentions that stopping him was going be a tough task for the CSK bowlers.
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Bowlers came, they bowled to the Universe Boss and the ball landed outside the boundary after kissing his Spartan willow. The crowd at Mohali went gaga after watching such fireworks and KXIP owner Preity Zinta jumped off her chair every now and then.
Here’s the video of his monstrous inning:
.@henrygayle , only you can do this!
https://t.co/S6MOHYUTgx via @ipl— Baahubali (@bahubalikabadla) April 15, 2018
Not only at the stadium but Gayle caused a huge storm on social media as well. Here’s how the cricket fanatics from different corners of the world reacted when Gayle was busy spoiling the economy rates of the CSK bowlers:
Chris Gayle right now……#KXIPvCSK pic.twitter.com/4UmpWPEbU3
— PhD in Bakchodi (@Atheist_Krishna) April 15, 2018
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It doesn’t matter how many he scores. Always a buzz when @henrygayle is on the park
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 15, 2018
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli and his entire Royal Challengers Bangalore team wondered why the hell the franchises didn’t buy him in the mega-auction.
RCB fans watching KL Rahul and Chris Gayle batting. pic.twitter.com/imUjFrzRum
— Aman | King XI Punjab (@amuyuvi) April 15, 2018
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RCB after @klrahul11 and @henrygayle innings #kixpvscsk pic.twitter.com/92Ko98FJ9i
— NitaNt jaiN (@NitaNtn_jaiN) April 15, 2018
Gayle’s bat carried on spewing fire all across the ground for the next few overs. In the seventh over, he got his 23rd IPL fifty, that too, in his debut of this season. And, you know, the Caribbeans have their own way to celebrate any feat, and Gayle had one too!
The universe boss #LivePunjabiPlayPunjabi #KXIPvCSK pic.twitter.com/HXHv8GrAP5
— Kings XI Punjab (@lionsdenkxip) April 15, 2018
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Finally, this small but furious show ended in the 12th over when Shane Watson hunted him down and he finished scoring 63 off 33 deliveries, including 4 sixes and 7 boundaries. This was just the start which was further carried by Mayank Agarwal (30) Karun Nair (29), Yuvraj Singh (20) and R Ashwin (14). KXIP put a huge total of 197 by the end of first innings.
