NEW DELHI – Chris Gayle, playing in his first match for Kings XI Punjab,smashed a 33-ball 63 against Chennai Super Kings in Mohali on Sunday.

There were no takers for him in the first two rounds of the IPL auction inJanuary before Kings XI Punjab finally stepped in and bought Chris Gayle athis base price of Rs 2 crore.

On Sunday, Gayle showed the world exactly why he should never be ignoredand announced his arrival at KXIP with a 33-ball 63 against Chennai SuperKings at Mohali.

Gayle started off in top gear smashing the first fifty in just 22 balls butslowed down a bit in the second half of his knock before he was dismissedby Shane Watson in the 12th over.

The big-hitting West Indian smashed four sixes and seven boundaries duringhis stay at the crease.

Gayle was let off the roster by Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier thisyear which came as a big surprise to many. His inconsistency in the lastseason was to blame for this as he managed just 200 runs in 9 games at anaverage of 22.22 with one score of fifty-plus.

Prior to that he had managed 227 runs in 10 games at 22.70 with twohalf-centuries.