Virender Sehwag claims that Chris Gayle is only a back-up for opening slots

It was a big surprise for the fans of the shortest format of the game when Gayle didn’t find any buyer in two rounds of the auction which was held on January 27 and 28, in Bengaluru. Before the end of the process on Day 2, it was the Punjab-based franchise who finally bid for the attacking batsman and included him in their squad at his base price without any battle from any other teams. For this season, the team concentrated on their batting line-up as they picked up Yuvraj Singh, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Karun Nair, and KL Rahul. Sehwag, team’s director and mentor, after the auction, revealed Gayle’s role in the team. 

“Simply having him (Gayle) in your side means a lot. Being an opening batsman, Gayle can prove to be a danger to any opposition,” Sehwag told Amar Ujala.

“Gayle’s brand value speaks for himself and how effective he is in this format. We decided to bring in Gayle as a backup option for the opening slots.”

The left-hand batsman is one of those players who loves playing in the 20-over games. Playing for his country, Gayle featured in 55 T20I scoring 1589 runs including 136 boundaries and 103 maximums. In the Indian Premier League matches, he became a nightmare for bowlers as he played 101 IPL games scoring 3626 runs including five centuries and 21 half-centuries. Earlier he was seen playing along with Royal Challengers Bangalore teammates Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers but in this season he will share the dressing room with players like Yuvraj, Miller, Rahul, and Ashwin.