Published 17:07 IST, September 20th 2020
IPL 2020: Chris Gayle, Rahul set eyes on records vs Delhi; Jamaican 16 runs away from feat
As Punjab gear up to face Delhi in the second match of the IPL 2020, Chris Gayle will be eyeing his next target to join Warner and Virat Kohli in an elite list
As Punjab gear up to face Delhi in the second match of the IPL 2020, veteran Jamaican power-hitter Chris Gayle will be eyeing his next target to join David Warner and Virat Kohli in an elite list. Gayle is just 16 runs away from cross 4500 runs in the IPL having played 125 matches across the 13 seasons. So far, the Jamaican has scored 4,484 runs and will be the sixth batsman to achieve the target.
Virat Kohli tops the list with 5,412 runs in 177 games followed by Suresh Raina with 5,368 runs in 193 games. The list also includes Rohit Sharma, David Warner, and Shikhar Dhawan. Moreover, Punjab skipper KL Rahul would also be eyeing the target of surpassing 2000 runs in the IPL. The newly-appointed skipper just 23 runs away from the feat and will be the 20th Indian to score more than 2000 runs in the IPL.
Speaking ahead of the squad's first game in UAE, Rahul said that the team wants to go out there and give it their best without any added pressure. While the game will witness two young Indian guns locking horns as they lead their squads, it will also be a battle of maestros as Kumble's Punjab and Ponting's Delhi take on each other in Dubai on Sunday night.
'Try to give it our best'
"I have never lived on hope or left anything to chance. As a team what we want to do is go out there and try to give it our best and try to enjoy and not put any pressure on ourselves," KL Rahul said in a video shared by the franchise just ahead of the clash. "Come game time, it is all about going and expressing yourself and enjoying whatever challenge comes our way," he added.
"It means everything. I mean it is the only thing that I know how to do and the only thing that I have done all my life so quite honestly it is everything. There is nothing else I can say. The only way I can express what it means is that it means everything," the Punjab skipper said when asked what cricket means to him.
Punjab full squad:
KL Rahul (c), Karun Nair, Mohammed Shami, Nicholas Pooran, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Hardus Viljoen, Darshan Nalkande, Sarfaraz Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Murugan Ashwin, Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda, James Neesham, Prabhsimran Singh, Chris Jordan, Tanjinder Dhillon, Ravi Bishnoi, Ishan Porel, Sheldon Cottrell, Jagadeesha Suchith and Krishnappa Gowtham.
Updated 17:07 IST, September 20th 2020