Chris Gayle after getting no takers twice in the auction this year had finally been picked up by Kings XI Punjab. His former team—Royal Challengers Bangalore didn’t retain the Caribbean for underperforming in the last season.

However, a “scorned” Gayle exposed his fury with the bat and bagged two successive Man of the Match awards as he clubbed 167 runs in 2 matches.

Gayle has some unmatchable statistics to his name in the shortest format of cricket. He has over 11,000 runs to his name making him the highest run-getter in the format and amazingly, he is 2000+ runs clear of the 2^nd most run-scorer—Brendon McCullum. Gayle’s tally of 21 hundreds is also matched by none with the 2^nd highest number of tons being only seven.

With a century last night, Gayle set the stage for a 15-run victory clinched KXIP. Being the first centurion in the ongoing season of the tournament, the southpaw was witty enough to tell Virendar Sehwag that he saved the IPL by picking up Gayle at the very last moment of the auction.

“I'm always determined," Gayle said at the post-match presentation. “A lot of people might say that Chris has a lot to prove [as he] didn't get selected or didn't get picked earlier in the auction. But I can say: Virender Sehwag, you saved IPL by picking me.

“This is a brilliant start. Man-of-the-match, back-to-back. Viru said in an interview if Chris Gayle can win in two games, he thinks he's got his money's worth. I'd like to have another word with Viru.”

The 38-year-old was not concerned about the slow start that KXIP had in the beginning. He rather focused on executing his plan and targeted to unsettle SRH’s key bowlers with some big shots.

“You kind of set up a game before you actually go out there. I know how you [the opposition] are going to go about it.”