It's great to bat with McCullum, says Gayle

After setting up a match-winning opening stand for Kolkata Knight Riders, Chris Gayle said on Tuesday that it is a great experience for him to open the innings with skipper Brendon McCullum.

Gayle hit a quickfire 44 in just 26 balls and along with Kiwi batsman McCullum (21) added 57 runs for the first wicket that helped Knight Riders open their account in the Twenty20 league with a 11-run win over Kings XI Punjab via the Duckworth-Lewis Method.

"It is a great experience to open the innings with a player like McCullum. He takes the pressure off you with his exciting playing style," Gayle said.

The West Indies player said that it was great to get a win after suffering a humiliating eight-wicket loss against Deccan Chargers Saturday night.

"Happy with the result but thought the spectators would have wanted a full game. Today the conditions were tough and it was more suited for the fast bowlers. It was very crucial for us to see through the first two overs to set our eye. But after that, run scoring was easy for the batsmen," he said.

McCullum also gave the credit to Gayle for setting up the superb win.

"Nice to get a result go our way, and this win should give us some momentum. We thought a score of 150-160 was par on this ground, but Gayle got us off to a superb start. It could have been a potentially close game, but for the rain," he said.

A dejected Kings XI captain Yuvraj Singh said that it was bowling department that needs to be sorted out

"It's a bit unfortunate, but we also dropped a catch and that let them get ahead. Batting looked pretty good but we need to sort out our bowling. It's a similar start like last year, but we need to push on from here," he said.

First Published: Apr 21, 2009 21:04 IST