Gayle’s return to form good news, says Vettori

Chris Gayle roaring back to form with a powerpacked half-century in the 21-run win over Gujarat Lions on Tuesday was most pleasing for Royal Challengers Bangalore coach Daniel Vettori. “Good thing about international cricketers is that they probably talk to themselves more than any captain or coach talking to them about their performances.

“They take pride in their performances, they really want to contribute to the team and Chris is a really prideful man, he wants to do well for RCB, do well for any team he plays for.

“Today was his opportunity. AB (de Villiers’s) injury allowed him to come out and play. We wanted him to play with freedom and we had given him the confidence,” Vettori said after Royal Challengers Bangalore pocketed a crucial win.

RCB were rocked with injuries to AB de Villiers and Samuel Badree just a few hours before the tie and that paved way for Chris Gayle and Travis Head, who slammed a 16-ball unbeaten 30. Vettori, nonetheless, was delighted with the performance of his overseas players.

“Chris is the strongest and powerful player on these kind of wickets and he can take any bowler down. Badree, Mills and AB were injured and to have Chris, Travis and Milne step up in these situations makes a huge difference.

“When we went to the auction we wanted to increase our bench strength and fortunately today it has come true for us,” said RCB coach Daniel Vettori.

The other shining part of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s victory was leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s 3/31 that restricted Gujarat Lions to 192/7.

“I have been lucky enough to have worked with Chahal for the past four years and also played against him when he was in Mumbai. The way he bowled in the Champions League final was the reason why we wanted to get him into RCB,” said Vettori.