IPL 2018: Heath Streak Reveals Reason Behind the Windies Being Successful in T20 Cricket
Dec 31, 2018 at 1:58 PM
Chris Gayle, at the age of 38, smashed an unbeaten 104 off 63 deliveries to help Kings XI Punjab win their third match of the season.
The Windies batsman had turned back the clock and showed his vintage best on Thursday against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
However, he is not the only Windies player on a roll in the ongoing Indian Premier League. His rival on Saturday, Andre Russell had also mesmerised the fans with his big hitting.
His six hitting ability had helped the Kolkata Knight Riders to achieve huge total in the previous matches.
KKR’s bowling coach, Heath Streak has, however, figured out the reason behind the success of West Indian players like Chris Gayle and Andre Russell in T20 cricket in general.
Streak believes, the Windies are successful in such T20 league or in the shorter format to be precise because they get bored playing the ‘Test’ cricket.
Gayle smashed the first century of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Gayle had been released by Royal Challengers Bangalore for whom he had scored 3420 runs in 91 matches in the past.
Not just Gayle and Russell, players like Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine, Evin Lewis, Kieron Pollard form the core of their respective franchises.
“Firstly, they enjoy it I think. They get bored by playing the long format of the game. A lot of them are playing all the leagues around the world, If you look at guys like Andre and Sunil from our team and others in the tournament like Pollard. You are getting to a stage where guys are making a career solely out of playing T20 cricket. They play in PSL (Pakistan), CPL (Caribbean), BBL (Big Bash), IPL.”
“They’ve got physical attributes, the power.The guys like Pollard, Russell are physically strong guys, even their mis-hits go over the boundary.”
Kolkata Knight Riders face Kings XI Punjab who are in red-hot form on Saturday, and KKR’s bowling coach believes they have enough variations in their bowling attack to stop the ‘Gayle-storm’.
“Lot of people always ask us bowling coaches ‘what’s the plan’. It is very difficult for us to say because then he’ll find out. So we can’t really tell you the exact plan. He is a dangerous player. How you start to him is very important early on. If you allow someone like Chris to get into rhythm and confidence, he is a very dangerous player. He is so powerful and backs his ability when the ball is in his zone to clear the boundary.”
Also Read: IPL 2018: 18th Match, KKR vs KXIP – Kolkata Knight Riders Players XI