Former West Indies opener, Chris Gayle has recalled an amazing anecdote involving Virat Kohli during an Indian Premier League (IPL) match in 2011. In his first IPL season with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Gayle managed to score his maiden ton in the tournament. He has smashed a record six centuries in his IPL career, which is the highest number in the history of the cash-rich league.
During a chat with former RCB teammate, AB de Villiers, in an episode of IPL Bold Diaries, Chris Gayle recalled that it was Kohli who helped him to score his ton during his maiden season for RCB. Gayle who is popularly known as ‘The Universal Boss’ said that when he was batting on 98, the former RCB skipper blocked a few balls for him to help him reach the three-figure mark.
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Recalling the incident, Chris Gayle said, “I remember Virat Kohli kept blocking a few balls when I was on 98 in the first match, he did so I could get to my first IPL hundred.”
Here is the video of the incident:
Here the video 👍https://t.co/nclkxLLzuJ
— Shankar (@TheShanku18) March 28, 2023
The incident was during the match between RCB and Gayle’s first IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). In a clip that surfaced on social media, Chris Gayle can be seen playing in second innings on 98 with RCB needing just a couple of runs from 14 balls. Kohli who was batting along with Gayle was seen blocking some balls to ensure his fellow teammate scored a ton.
In the first ball of the 18th over, Chris Gayle smashed a boundary and handed RCB a nine-wicket win over KKR. Gayle had an average season with KKR for a couple of years. Furthermore, he was dropped from the West Indies team.
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At that stage, when his future was seemingly looking bleak, RCB named him as a replacement for the injured, Dirk Nannes. He revealed that when RCB roped-in him, the energy and the vibe was something different. Gayle has amassed 3163 runs for RCB, which made him the most impactful player in the history of the franchise. He tops the list of highest run-getter in the history of IPL, scoring 4965 runs from 141 innings at an average of 39.72.
