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Tribune News Service
Mohali, April 19
Chris Gayle is a "thorough entertainer" and when on Thursday he raced to his sixth century in the Indian Premier League, the near capacity crowd at IS Bindra PCA Stadium here could not have asked for anything more.
"It was worth the effort... I have come all the way from Delhi to see Chris Gayle bat and it was a joy to watch him. He is such an amazing cricketer, I don't know why he was not picked by any franchisee in the auctions," said Archit Shaukeen.
Gayle blasted an unbeaten 104 off 63 balls to help hosts Kings XI Punjab pile on a challenging 193/3 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their fourth IPL match this season.
The most surprising part of his batting was that he hit 11 sixes in comparison to just one boundary en route the first century of IPL’s ongoing edition. Four of his sixes came off successive balls of Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan, as the hosts put on a huge total after a relatively slow start.
"I like the way he plays. There is no defence in his dictionary, it is just consistent, clean hitting. Even I like to play the same way. Lucky to see him score a century in my first on-field experience. Will surely remember it for a long,
long time," said Shaukeen.
Gayle has now scored 3,793 runs in the IPL in 103 matches. He also holds the record for the highest individual total in the cash-rich league — 175 not out while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors.
However, to everyone's surprise, Gayle went unsold in the auctions earlier this year before being picked by Kings XI Punjab for a base price of Rs 2 crore. "It is baffling that no one opted for him in the auctions," said Vivek Nayyar, who traveled all the way from Jalandhar for Thursday's match.
"He is always a treat to watch and today's innings was a special one. We are lucky to have him in our team," he added.
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