Gayle v de Villiers
The lead changes hands, but only briefly
Cricinfo staff
24-Apr-2009
Gayle hits a six, realising Sambit's in danger of losing his top spot on the Star Wars table • AFP
Posted at 10am IST
After many fluctuations following the explosive Delhi Daredevils-Chennai Super Kings encounter on Thursday (Ian Chappell jumped to first place, courtesy AB de Villiers) Chris Gayle's blitz in the Kolkata Knight Riders Game ensured that Sambit Bal held on to the top spot in the Star Wars table, although by the thinnest of margins.
The rollercoaster day seems to have got the better of Ian, who said, "I got quite excited when I opened the Star Wars page and it said I was on top. Then I looked at the table and saw it was actually Sambit on top. I'm sure that was the editor's ploy - over-excite the elderly member of the panel."
The performance of the day was de Villiers' exhilarating century - the first hundred in this edition of the IPL. And that, along with his Man-of-the-Match Award ensured that he racked up a whopping 297 points for both Ian and David Lloyd. How they will have rued not picking him as trump.
But it was Gayle who swung it in Sambit's favour. While Ian had Brendon McCullum as trump, who yielded a disappointing six points, it was Gayle's 198 points (as Sambit's trump) that propelled Cricinfo's editor into the lead again. However, his lead is a marginal 20 points, thanks to 146 points from Yusuf Pathan for Ian. A relieved Sambit can't help but thank his benefactor. "Gayle made my day again. I can't think of anyone who hits sixes with such cool. And finally, Karman Khan, my dark horse, repaid my faith. I am not a fan of his action, but the lad has some nerve." Incidentally Kamran scored 140 points for both Ian and Sambit.
Sanjay Manjrekar has been having a run of bad luck, meanwhile. All the big point-scorers - Yusuf Pathan, Kamran , deVilliers, Gayle - were dropped from his team just before they scored heavily. Sanjay views this philosophically. "After a short stint at the top, it's sad being in last place - but it's just another reminder of the greatest truth of our lives: that chage is the only constant"
With just one game scheduled for today it will be interesting to see how the points table looks tomorrow. But Ian is not very optimistic. "Bangalore are enough to dampen anybody's enthusiasm - I see lean pickings ahead."