Irfan Pathan has opened up on the fact that the Punjab Kings (PBKS) will expect bigger contributions from their veteran player Chris Gayle with the bat even though he might not be in his best. However, Gayle got out to Hardik Pandya in the deep off Kieron Pollard in their last clash against the Mumbai Indians (MI).

Notably, Punjab were restricted to a score of 135/6, which Mumbai chased down with an over to spare. While reviewing the encounter on Star Sports, Irfan Pathan shared that Gayle will have to deliver for the Punjab Kings, considering a lot of players are waiting to take over the place.

He elaborated: “You expect more from Chris Gayle. I know he is a lion who is probably getting old but you will have to score runs. You don’t have too many options. Nicholas Pooran also performs well in the CPL but he has not been able to convert that talent in the IPL for a little while now.”

Irfan Pathan observed: “Markram definitely tried to play a good knock but you need that firepower. Hooda also tried but you need more than that. Especially when your backs are against the wall you need to come up with the big punch. Punjab Kings and their batsmen will have to play the big knocks.”

While talking about Punjab Kings’ playoff hopes, Irfan Pathan stated that Mayank Agarwal’s injury could be a huge blow for them as well. They will next take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday.

He explained: “It is going to be very difficult. The first thing is that Mayank Agarwal injured his neck but it broke the back of the Punjab Kings batting because he was scoring a lot of runs. His coming back is very much necessary.”

“Other than him and KL Rahul, no one else is scoring a lot of runs. We did see Hooda scoring 20-30 runs in the middle but that is not good enough. You have to play the good match-winning knocks,” Irfan Pathan concluded.