Kyle Mayers - The making of a marauding match-winner

He had a first-class average of 28 and only two hundreds prior to his Test debut where he blasted his way to 210* and scripted a run-chase for the ages. He arrived in the IPL with a T20 strike-rate of around 125 and suddenly emerged as a powerplay destroyer for the Lucknow Super Giants. For someone who started his career as a fast bowler, this is quite remarkable, isn't it?

Mayers already has four fifties in the ongoing IPL and the last one against Punjab Kings (off 20 balls) was his fastest. He smashed a 28-ball fifty in IPL debut and notched up a 21-ball one in his second outing. His 297 runs in eight innings has come at an average of 37.1 and a strike-rate of 160.5. 

Most of his runs have come inside the powerplay and there he strikes at 152.2, the fourth-highest in that phase. Among the top 20 run-getters in this year's IPL, Mayers is the only one playing the tournament for the first time.

Mayers was the West Indies' highest wicket-taker in the 2012 U-19 World Cup in Australia (12 wickets at 11.8). He made his first-class debut for Winward Islands against Guyana, only to get out for a duck. He was a number seven batter on his List A and T20 debut. 

The most interesting thing about him is that a lot of things have happened by accident. He made his international debut in Bangladesh in 2021 just because as many as ten players pulled out amid Covid-19 concerns. Here in the IPL, he got a chance to open the innings for Lucknow as Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul's likeliest partner, was yet to be released by South Africa. 

But Mayers knows a thing or two about grabbing chances with both hands. He did that in Chattogram in that Test match. He did that in Lucknow by hitting 73 off just 38 in IPL debut.

Originally a pace bowler and a lower-order batter, how he cracked the role of an opener is the most interesting part of his story. 

In 2018, he sustained an ankle injury which forced him to reduce bowling and become more of a batting all-rounder. At that time, he didn't have a contract in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). So, he decided to play in a low-key T20 league in Norway.

There, his team Eagles needed an opening batter and it was Mayers who put his hands up. He scored 528 runs there at an average of 100. He continued to bat at the top for his local team Carlton Cricket Club.

That stint in Norway was the "stepping stone" according to Mayers. 

He was the most valuable player in the 2022 CPL with 366 runs and eight wickets. That means the bowling never went away. Nowadays, he opens the batting and bowling for the teams he plays, like Neil Johnson used to do for Zimbabwe. He swings it with the new ball and often, batters have been surprised by the amount of in-swing he gets. 

In the SA20, he got Dewald Brevis out with a big, booming inswinger that came back a very long way to rattle the stumps. Mayers bowled one of the spells of the ongoing World Test Championship against England last year (five for 18) that ensured a big West Indies win at St. George's.

Another aspect of Mayers' astonishing transformation is ability to play spin. He had a really torrid time against spinners coming into Bangladesh two years ago but he played four quality Bangladesh spinners like a seasoned campaigner. 

Even in the IPL, he has scored 126 off 72 balls of spin (strike-rate of 175) and some of the shots he has played off them had a little bit of Chris Gayle in them. And who can forget the back-foot cover drive in the Carrara Oval against Australia off Cameron Green last year that travelled 105 meters? Adam Gilchrist couldn't remember a better shot. He played the same shot off Sam Curran in the IPL for six as well although it wasn't as big. 

The West Indies T20I team, after an embarrassing exit from the World Cup last year, has finally regained some form with a series win in South Africa. The next T20 World Cup will take place in the Caribbean and the US and in home conditions, Mayers can very well be the X factor for the West Indies.