New Delhi [India], Jan 31: “Once a Punjabi, always a Punjabi,” this seems to have become the latest moto of Caribbean star Chris Gayle after getting purchased by Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) team in the recently concluded IPL 2018 auction. Gayle was bought at his base price of Rs 2 crore. Since the moment KXIP purchased him, Gayle has been in full form in social media. Practising with his Jamaican teammate Andre Russell in the nets, Gayle started banter with him by saying, “This Knight Rider player can’t be a Punjabi man.”
Not to forget that Russell is part of Kolkata Knight Riders team in IPL. Moving forward, Russell said that he will do Punjabi ‘bhangra’ dance after hitting a 6 against Gayle but interestingly the other way round happened as the Caribbean opener dismissed Russell caught and bowled and celebrated by patting his thigh and showing off his mustache in typical Punjabi style. The coming IPL edition will start from April 4 and for the first time since 2011, Gayle will be representing a different team in the tournament’s history. His IPL career began with KKR in 2008, followed by Royal Challengers Bangalore between 2011 to 2017 and now KXIP.
Gayle, who carries immense fan following, has not been at this best for the last couple of IPL seasons. This made franchises of IPL a bit cold towards Gayle during the auction. Gayle remained unsold in first two rounds of the auction and finally got bid by KXIP in the third round.