‘Yusuf Pathan can elevate game to next level for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL’ - Hindustan Times
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‘Yusuf Pathan can elevate game to next level for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL’

ByGautam Gambhir
Apr 21, 2017 09:12 AM IST

In his column, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Gautam Gambhir explains what makes Chris Gayle great and offers his take on the transformation of KKR teammate Yusuf Pathan

We all love Chris Gayle, don’t we? OK, let me rephrase this: we all love Chris Gayle’s batting, don’t we? Personally, I love the entire package of this man-mountain.

Kolkata: KKR Captain Gautam Gambhir celebrates with Yusuf Pathan during an IPL match against Sunrisers Hydrabad at Eden Garden in Kolkata on Saturday. PTI Photo by Ashok Bhaumik(PTI4_15_2017_000161A)(PTI)
Kolkata: KKR Captain Gautam Gambhir celebrates with Yusuf Pathan during an IPL match against Sunrisers Hydrabad at Eden Garden in Kolkata on Saturday. PTI Photo by Ashok Bhaumik(PTI4_15_2017_000161A)(PTI)

He is a delight for marketing men, broadcasters, and of course us, the lesser mortals, his fans who were not surprised that he reached 10000 runs in this format.

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I may not be able to give him company at a pub beyond 1 AM but I’ll be the first person to switch on my TV set at 2 AM if he is batting. He is what the T20 planet craves for, an entertainer.

How does he do it? Well, the first thing is Gayle’s intent. Most coaches have told me the 4-3-2-1 formula to score runs. It means the first option is to look for a boundary. Second, look for three runs, third option is to search a couple and final one being to at least take a single.

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With Gayle, the formula seems to be “think 6--think 6--think 6 again--bloody hell, let me block. Fours, well, let’s see.” My man hates to deal in ones, twos or threes. Most people look (sometimes complain) at the thickness of his bat, but for me the truth lies in the simplicity of the Jamaican’s gameplan.

For starters, he operates in the V, most of his strokes are a product of a harmonious hand-eye marriage and a bat coming down from the heavens in a beautiful arc. Then comes the most vital USP of Gayle Inc. – the brute power.

I have often seen his mis-hits sailing into the stands at Chinnaswamy Stadium. Besides all of this, Gayle also knows and acknowledges what he can’t do. Those drives, the hook shots or the delicates dabs are never on Gayle’s menu.

So, he is not your 360-degree batsman, but he is what he is. I have often said that Rahul bhai (Rahul Dravid) is the most evolved cricketer I have seen in my cricketing life time. Perhaps Gayle is the only batsman I know who has consolidated most on his strengths.

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Closer home, another batsman who has casted himself into a new mould is Yusuf Pathan. Back during the 2007 T20 World Cup he got off the blocks as a big-hitting sensation. In India, the reputations are made overnight and sometimes cricketers involuntarily becomes slaves of them.

I am glad that Yusuf has come out of the compulsive hitting mode and is now more judicious in his strokeplay. In the 2015 IPL, he averaged 44.57, and 72.2 in the next season. In the last game against Delhi, it was his sensible batting that bailed us out from 21 for 3. Yusuf often says that our former bowling coach Wasim Akram too had a role to play in his transformation.

We play Gujarat Lions at the Eden Gardens on Friday. It is that phase of the tournament when Yusuf can elevate his standing to the next level. I spoke to him about this and the big Pathan smiled and said, “dekh lengay yaar”.

Yes, we have been trying a few combinations at the top of the order. I don’t know, I am a bit of a gambler on this. Let’s see what my learned colleagues Mr. Jacques Kallis and Mr. Simon Katich have to say. My fancy for a hitting option at the top tells me that I am reeling big time under Gayle-effect!

(Gautam Gambhir is the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. He writes exclusively for Hindustan Times. The views expressed in the column are his personal.)

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