KL Rahul credits the legendary player for helping him to score the fastest IPL half-century

KL Rahul has started this season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a bang by smashing the fastest half-century in the history of the tournament. Delhi Daredevils bowlers were at the receiving end as he played surreal strokes to bring up the landmark before the third over of the innings itself which was also a record. It was Rahul’s first match for Kings XI Punjab and he has proved his worth in the very first game. However, he believes that the way Chris Gayle approaches the game has helped him a lot while with Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Rahul has been entrusted with the dual role of wicket-keeping and opening the innings by the KXIP team management in this season. He didn’t disappoint in the opening encounter and won the Man of the Match award as well. It would be crucial for KXIP and Rahul both for him to carry on in the same vein which will give them an early advantage in the tournament.

He always keep telling about getting into good positions

Kl Rahul was bought by KXIP franchise for a whopping amount of Rs 11 Crores in the mega-auction earlier this year in January and the cricketer has proved his mettle straightaway. Though he credited Gayle for guiding him over the years also while he was with RCB for a long time.

“I have realized over the years playing with Gayle (while being part of the RCB squad), and I have spoken to him over the last couple of years about how to pace the innings and he always keep telling about getting into good positions and then body reacts. That’s all I was trying to do and I’m really happy that it came off today,” he said in an interview to official website of IPL. He also revealed that he didn’t plan anything earlier and just middled everything from the word go.

“I didn’t plan to play this innings that way. I just went there, I wanted to play a couple of balls in. But the first ball (Trent) Boult bowled, he tried to swing it in, but there was no swing so I knew that the ball was going to come straight and I just wanted to take him on straight away. I knew that once the ball gets older it is going to get harder for the batsmen batting down the order. So my plan was to make sure that the new ball goes for a lot of runs so that the batsmen batting after me will find it easier,” he added.

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