|| CF Correspondent ||

Chattogram Challengers all-rounder Muktar Ali said on Tuesday that they are hopeful that their West Indies legend Chris Gayle would come up with all guns blazing in a crucial second Qualifier game of the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BBPL) in which they would take on Rajshahi Royals.

“It’s a confidence-booster for us that he is playing in our team,” Chattogram all-rounder Muktar Ali said.

“No one needs to perform if Gayle comes up with his natural game. Such was his impact that he could single- handedly drive a side. It’s his specialty.”

“If Gayle can stand high in the tomorrow’s game, I think Rajshahi won’t win against us. No one can match him,” Muktar remarked.

Knowing that the defeat would ruin their hopes to make the BBPL final, they indeed expected a typical Gayle-storm, which made the Caribbean Stalwart apparent in the shortest version of the cricket.

Gayle has already played three matches with Chattogram and scored 84 runs, which is not-so-good performance for a batsman like him. Particularly what was disappointing was Gayle’s strike-rate in those three matches.

Specially in the Eliminator game, he ate up huge amount of balls which could have made adverse impact on the team had captain Mahmudullah Riyad not covered it up later. Gayle played 49 balls to score 38 in that game against Dhaka Platoon. But luckily for Chattogram their target was not big enough. Gayle was always a player who consumed deliveries at the start of the innings but later covered it up nicely to keep his strike rate healthy. But recently the problem that haunted him and his team is that before he covered it well, he got dismissed, making things tougher for the team.