Gayle still battling with hamstring injury

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Royal Challengers Bangalore opener Chris Gayle says he has been playing in the IPL even though his hamstring injury has not fully healed, hence his subdued play in the tournament thus far.

Royal Challengers Bangalore opener Chris Gayle says he has been playing in the IPL even though his hamstring injury has not fully healed, hence his subdued play in the tournament thus far.

Gayle missed Bangalore's first four matches with the leg injury, and they did very well without him actually, and since his return has made scores of 20, 27 and 38.

Gayle told <i>PTI</i>: "I haven't recovered fully. Still bearing some discomfort at this point in time, so I am just trying to monitor things as I go on. Those things are in places and you need to take it in stride as you go."

After starting so well in the UAE, the Bangalore side have lost a few games they would have expected to win, and are fourth on the table on six points, with the whole bottom half all on four points each.

Gayle was not pessimistic about the side's chances for the semi-finals though, saying: "We are not out of it. We are down but not out. Seven games, lost four and won three.

"So just (need) to gain momentum by getting some wins back to back and that can change the entire face of RCB. And then we can look to push for the final four and then go on from strength to strength. We are still backing ourselves to get the job done."

Gayle was then asked about the spat between Keiron Pollard and Mitchell Starc during RCB's loss against Mumbai, and he said there was no particular West Indies v Australia feeling at all, as both IPL sides had both nationalities present.

He said: "We battle internationally. Pollard has Australians in his team, I have the same. It is just that things go off on a particular day. There is no rivalry when you look at those sort of things. We are in a group so it is a different scenario and it is not international so it is a different scenario."

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