Former West Indies’s legendary cricketer Brian Lara is disappointed with Kings XI Punjab’s playing XI selection against Kolkata Knight Riders in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.
In the pre-match show at Star Sports, Brian Lara stated that Chris Gayle should have played against KKR while Chris Jordan should have been dropped seeing his poor outing in the last few matches. He tagged Gayle is the fear factor for the opposition, and KXIP should have included him.
“I’m really disappointed (that Gayle is not there). Chris Gayle is a fear factor… We’ve seen Jordan, has not been very good in the IPL so far, I’m not saying he’s a bad player but I think packing the batting with Chris Gayle is something that they should’ve done,” said Brian Lara on the pre-match show at Star Sports.
Chris Gayle should be in – Brian Lara
According to Brian Lara, KXIP can chase down any target if their batting order has Chris Gayle along with KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, who are already in terrific form. He believes in maintaining overseas players number Cottrell should be excluded while the Universe Boss should be added.
“Imagine a batting line-up with KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal and Glenn Maxwell, they could chase down anything. So yes Cottrell out and I’d bring Chris Gayle in and trust my Indian bowling attack,” Lara added.
Chris Gayle has not played a single match since the start of IPL 2020. He has missed all the six matches. KXIP head coach Anil Kumble, before the last match against SRH, had said that they wanted Gayle in the XI, but he is sick.
However, before the ongoing KKR match, KXIP has not given any official statement about Chris Gayle’s health.
Meanwhile, KKR has given 165 runs target to KXIP. There is only one change in Dinesh Karthik‘s playing XI that is Shivam Mavi has been benched while Prasidh Krishna is playing