"I thought it was going to be awkward" - Shane Watson on how he broke the ice with Chris Gayle at RCB
In a recent podcast, Australia's Shane Watson spoke about his strenuous relationship with Chris Gayle and how the two bonded during their stint at the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the IPL.
Shane Watson explained that the relationship between the two went sour after they regularly played against each other. Hence, when RCB picked him at the auction ahead of IPL 2016, Watson thought things would get quite heated between the two.
However, the Aussie cricketer took the lead to break the ice and joined Chris Gayle at the swimming pool after joining RCB. Watson stated that their relationship got better from that point in time.
"We were playing in separate teams in the PSL as well," said Watson on the Grade Cricket podcast. "The IPL auction was on and I got signed to RCB and he was playing there. I thought it was going to be awkward. I thought we might butt heads in the field. So I just had to break the ice. I saw him down by the pool the next day and from then on, it’s actually been really good."
We didn't particularly get along that well: Shane Watson on relationship with Gayle
Further explaining the tension between himself and Gayle, Shane Watson revealed that it was the competitiveness that had a negative impact on their relationship.
"Chris Gayle came into the cricket academy when I was there at 19 and I always enjoyed the way he played and we always got on well when we played against each other. But then things sort of shifted when we kept playing against each other a lot more, and then, we didn’t particularly get along that well," said Watson.
According to Watson, things got even worse during a Test match at Perth.
"I had a run-in with him. It was during a Test match at Perth where he got under my skin and then I swear I had a go at him. I carried on after getting him out and then he sort of fueled the fire in the media by saying he expected that behaviour and all that stuff," said Watson.
In his two years with RCB, Shane Watson scored 250 runs and picked up 25 wickets in 24 matches.