Gayle played to perfection: Tye

Kings XI Punjab speedster Andrew Tye heaped praise on his side's explosive opener Chris Gayle, saying the West Indian played to perfection during his unbeaten knock of 104 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL match here.

Gayle's 63-ball unbeaten innings, which included 11 sixes, helped KXIP post a total of 193/3. In reply, the Sunrisers fell short by 15 runs.

"Gayle played to perfection. He made sure that he stayed there till the end. You don't often see (spinner Rashid) Khan get hit for more than 25 in one over. To make Rashid concede that many runs (55 in four overs) was awesome," Tye said at the post-match news conference Thursday night.

Tye said Gayle's shot selection and execution was spot-on.

"I think he went about it very well. He knew that once he got through the Power Play, the spin would come on and then he got into the rhythm against the spin. I think he was very smart about it," he said.

Asked what would have been his plans if he was bowling to Gayle, Tye said that there is not much a bowler could do in such a situation.

"I guess you could try and get him off strike, but at the same time as pace bowlers you want to get him out because you know you have spin to come and he is lining up to attack them. It is different for every pitch you play on," said the Australian.

Tye, who claimed two wickets including the crucial wicket of Sunrisers' skipper Kane Williamson when he was going great guns, said KXIP have got a good variety in their bowling attack.

On the knuckle ball he used, Tye said: "I try and figure out what is working for me on the day. In this match it was knuckle ball and I stuck with that. Sometimes it works, sometimes you get hit into the crowd and you look like an idiot, but that's alright," he said.

Meanwhile, Sunrisers bowler Siddharth Kaul too praised Gayle.

Asked what was the mindset of a bowler when a player like Gayle was in a destructive form, Kaul said: "The mindset is to get your execution right and bowl in the right areas. We were planning it that way only, but tough luck that his execution was better than ours and every shot he played was getting connected. Gayle was executing smartly and he was challenging our main bowlers and he played really well," Kaul said."