West Indies all-rounder Kyle Meyers has taken the sixteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) i.e. IPL 2023 by storm. He has already scored two fifties in two matches for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
In the small window he had before the arrival of Quinton de Kock, he did everything possible to make it extremely difficult for Lucknow Super Giants to drop him.
Of the 671 cricketers who have played in the IPL across 16 seasons, only one has scored half-centuries in his first two innings in the league – Kyle Mayers.
After his match-winning 73 off 38 balls on debut for Lucknow Super Giants against Delhi Capitals, Mayers said he had “always dreamed” of playing in the IPL.
He had to wait for that dream to come true. In 2021, Mayers joined the Rajasthan Royals as a reserve player and underwent a one-week strict quarantine mandated by the league’s Covid-19 protocols, only for the season to be interrupted midway through the pandemic.
When the season resumed in the UAE a few months later, he was not recalled by the Royals. In 2022, he was signed by Lucknow Super Giants at his base price of Rs 50 lakh, but watched the entire season from the bench.
In October that year, Mayers pulled off an incredible knock while opening in a T20I against Australia – a 105m sail from Cameron Green that cleared the cover boundary. That astonishing display of power and balance took place in a largely empty stadium at Carrara, but Super Giants coach Gautam Gambhir was stunned to witness it.
However, had de Kock not been on South African duty for its start, he might have started this IPL season on the bench. Before de Kock joined the squad, he must have known that he had only one or two chances to stake his claim at the top of the order. He took it.
Mayers followed up his half-century on IPL debut with another 53 in MS Dhoni’s 200-plus run chase at home, making it almost impossible to drop him for the Super Giants’ third match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 7.
If the Supergiants want to include both de Kock and Mayers in their starting XI, Marcus Stoinis could miss out with former west indies white ball captains Nicholas Pooran and Mark Wood filling the third and fourth overseas spots. De Kock scored a 44-ball T20I century on March 26, while Stoinis has scored only 33 runs and hasn’t bowled yet in his first two matches in the IPL.
Mayers, on the other hand, has been bowling an over or two in the powerplay, and along with a deceptive leg cutter, he can swing the ball both ways in helpful conditions. He opens the bowling regularly in the CPL and for West Indies.
Also, fans can’t stop praising the batsman for Meyers’ ruthless batting, with former CSK player Suresh Raina claiming that Mayers is the new Chris Gayle of the IPL.
As Mayers was thrashing the CSK bowlers all around the park on Monday, Raina reckoned Mayers looks like The Universe Boss. “Kyle Mayers looks like new Chris Gayle in IPL,” reckoned Raina on air.
The West Indian player has impressed everyone with his brilliant batting in IPL 2023 so far.