IPL 2014: Chris Gayle says he hasn't recovered from his injury fully

Chris Gayle

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s powerful opener Chris Gayle admits that he has still not fully recovered from the hamstring injury due to which he was unavailable for the first 4 matches in this season of the IPL for RCB.

“I haven’t recovered fully. Still bearing some discomfort at this point in time, so I am just trying to monitor things as I go on. Those things are in places and you need to take it in stride as you go,” Gayle told PTI.

The West Indian states that he enjoys batting with Parthiv Patel at the top order. “It is good to open the batting with him. He is an attacking player as well. He can ease some of the pressure at the top of the order. So you can give him more time to bat, you don’t want him to bat much deeper within the team and the team will actually benefit,” he said.

After losing a dramatic match against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday, Gayle believes it was the two similar dismissals that changed the course of the game. “Two same dismissals on Tuesday night was unfortunate and that couldn’t take us across the line for victory.”

When asked if his team RCB still had a chance to make it to the play offs, Gayle said,

“We are not out of it. We are down but not out. Seven games, lost four and won three. So just (need) to gain momentum by getting some wins back to back and that can change the entire face of RCB. And then we can look to push for the final four and then go on from strength to strength. We are still backing ourselves to get the job done.”

When asked about Gayle’s version of the ugly spat that happened during the match between Australian pacer Mitchell Starc and Jamaican Keiron Pollard, Gayle said that there is no rivalry between IPL teams as such.

“It is an intense game. Two teams down and looking to get two points for the team. It is one of those moments. These things happen in cricket. It is not going to be the last for these things to happen in cricket and it is not the first that has happened in cricket also,” said Gayle, who was also involved in the argument that occurred between players on field.

“We battle internationally. Pollard has Australians in his team, I have the same. It is just that things go off on a particular day. There is no rivalry when you look at those sort of things. We are in a group so it is a different scenario and it is not international so it is a different scenario,” he added.

Before the start of IPL 7, Gayle had stated that he was eager to do his famous ‘Gangnam style’ with enthusiastic Yuvraj Singh: “We haven’t performed it as yet. Still keeping up with the leg. Trying to get fit on my dance and Gangnam and then pull another muscle.”

The 34-year-old also praised AB de Villiers for his brilliant batting performance so far.

“He practices those shots he is capable of doing. He practices hard and makes it look easy. He is spectacular and can score all along the ground. What a player he is! He is very quick on his feet. He makes things much more easier for us and that is more important,” he said.

Gayle will be playing his 100th Test match against New Zealand next month, which is 100 short of Tendulkar’s record of 200 Test matches.

When asked if he would like to play 200 matches too, an optimistic Gayle said, “I am definitely looking forward to that. Especially given a chance that it is going to be at home, so that is a big occasion. It is going to be a spectacularly milestone occasion for me to get past the 100 Test match and just another 100 to go to catch up with Sachin. So I am not too far away to catch up Sachin to 200 Test matches.”

“Oh yes. I am going to play 201 Test matches.” he ended.