Chris Gayle and KL Rahul – the perfect T20 pair

Chris Gayle and KL Rahul have formed a formidable opening pair for Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League IPL 2018, crossing 50 in quick time each time they have gone out so far.

Gayle didn't play the first two games for Punjab and was brought in only in the third match against Chennai Super Kings. The 38-year-old made an impact immediately as he scored a 33-ball 63. Equally impactful was his 96-run stand with Rahul, in just eight overs, which laid a solid platform for the middle-order batsmen to capitalise on.

In the next game, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rahul and Gayle added 53 in 7.5 overs for the first wicket. After Rahul was dismissed, Gayle went on to score the first century of the tournament and remained unbeaten on 104 off just 63 balls.

The partnership flourished for the third time in a row on Saturday 21 April when they added 116 runs in 9.4 overs. Rahul was dismissed for 60, but Gayle took his side to victory with an unbeaten 62 off 38 balls.

Individually, Gayle has 229 runs from three games, while Rahul has 213 from five.

After the latest effort, Rahul revealed that the plan has been to attack from both ends. “Me and Chris have spoken, we’re going to back our games. If he’s going for it, doesn’t mean I take the back seat,” he said.

It has worked so far, with Punjab winning four of their five fixtures.

Gayle, who got the Orange Cap for the leading run scorer briefly before Virat Kohli of Royal Challengers Bangalore took it away, was equally happy: “Good to be among the runs. Doesn’t matter about the Orange Cap – I think Rahul deserves it. To be honest, I didn't strike it really well, but when you have momentum going, you need to capitalise,” he said.

Together, Rahul and Gayle have added 265 runs in three games at 88.33 – many would have expected nothing less from Gayle, but Rahul has been a revelation.

“I don't know what's happening, but I don't want to question what's going well for me,” joked Rahul. “The approach is to stay aggressive and take the opposition down. The simpler you keep it, the clearer you will be as a batsman. Don't want to complicate my batting – see ball hit ball. I back my shots, and just want to get into shape.”

All of which is keeping Punjab around the top of the points table and making Ravichandran Ashwin, the Punjab captain, very happy. “KL looked like a million dollars, and well, Chris is Chris,” he said at the end of the match against Kolkata.

The numbers the two have put up are excellent for any format, especially so in Twenty20s. And as long as they can keep the tempo up, Punjab will be difficult to beat indeed.