Former explosive West Indies opener Chris Gayle has chosen Virat Kohli, and not Royals Challengers Bangalore (RCB) 'Hall of Famer' AB de Villiers as his favourite batting partner while he was tearing the Indian Premier League (IPL) apart.
Recently, both de Villiers and Gayle were inducted into the RCB's 'Hall of Fame'. While his time at Bangalore, the Southpaw opened the innings several times with King Kohli and the pair won several matches for their franchise.
The 43-year-old has some unforgettable knocks with Mr. 360 aka AB de Villiers himself.
Meanwhile, speaking on Jio cinema, Gayle asserted that he choose Kohli as his go-to batting partner over de Villiers for a special reason. "I opened the batting more with Virat, so I am going to pick Virat," the Jamaican said.
The explosive trio of Kohli, Gayle and de Villiers last played together for Bangalore in the 2017 edition of the IPL. Later, the West Indian was bought by Punjab Kings (PBKS) as he was not retained by RCB. Meanwhile, out of these three players, Kohli is the only active one in the IPL. The former India skipper is still representing RCB in the IPL.
Moreover, de Villiers played his last match for RCB in the 2022 edition of the cash-rich league as Gayle hung up his boots way back in 2021. The 39-year-old South African had a long stay with Bangalore as he played from 2011-2021 and represented the franchise in 157 matches.
He scored a whopping 4,522 runs at an average of 41.10 which included two centuries and 37 half-centuries. He also had an impressive strike rate of above 158. Gayle represented RCB from 2011-17 and featured in 91 matches. He accumulated 3,420 runs and his strike rate was over 154. The batting all-rounder had five centuries and 21 half-centuries to his name while 175* was his as well as the tournament's highest score to date by an individual.
So far in IPL 2023, RCB have played five matches, winning two and losing three. They are currently down in the seventh spot, having just four points on the table. In their most recent match on April 17 against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the latter won the match by eight runs in what was another last-over thriller.
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