Chris Gayle reckons a big future ahead of KL Rahul

Chris Gayle may be one of the best T20 batsmen in the world at the moment, but, the 36-year old has some praise to shower on Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate KL Rahul. The latter has begun to impress in all three formats of the game. Speaking to Times of India, the big Jamaican said that Rahul is one of the few players who can challenge Virat Kohli in terms of batsmanship and work ethic.

“Rahul is a super player and has been scoring runs in all formats of the game. He is definitely one for the future. Rahul is someone who will be a match for Virat Kohli. Rahul works extremely hard on his fitness and on his game. He is definitely going great guns and all he needs to do is keep working hard and results will follow.”

Speaking on how he approaches different formats of the game, Gayle said, “When I look at both formats of the game, I feel we fail to concentrate for longer periods of time (in Tests). This has been the case since the time I made my debut under Brian Lara. We only play (quality) cricket for short sessions and we win a session here or there. And then, we switch off and that’s why we tend to lose a lot of Test matches.”

“Having patience and batting for long sessions is something that’s been lacking (in West Indies Test team). That’s not the case in T20s as we have the experience and the talent to go the distance. With regards to me playing Tests -yes, it’s a possibility. The talks are on and we will have to wait and see what happens.”

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Finally, speaking about the future of West Indies cricket, Gayle said, “From the men’s point of view, Chris Gayle is there (laughs)! That’s a huge impact. From the women’s team’s point of view, Stephanie Taylor is there – a fantastic player as well. Most of the players in our side play T20 competitions all over the world and have the experience needed to play in this format. We are a naturally gifted T20 side with some superb fielders and great all-rounders.”