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West Indies ChampionsBatter
Chris Gayle
- Age
- 47y 36d
- Bats
- Left-hand
- Bowls
- Right-arm off break
- From
- Kingston
- Age
- 47y 36d
- Bats
- Left-hand
- Bowls
- Right-arm off break
- From
- Kingston
Chris Gayle, the towering West Indian opener, has a strong claim to being the defining figure of Twenty20 cricket. He made the first century ever recorded in the format and went on to collect nearly every major T20 batting record, including the most runs (beyond 10,000), the most hundreds, the quickest hundred, and the most fours and sixes. He was also the first player to reach three figures in all three international formats.
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Gayle first played for West Indies in 2000, aged 20. He was not an opener at the outset but soon moved to the top of the order, and he later succeeded Ramnaresh Sarwan as captain. His Test tally reads 103 matches, 15 centuries and more than 7,000 runs. His best is 333 against Sri Lanka at Galle, which made him only the fourth man, after Don Bradman, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag, to score two Test triple hundreds. He was the first batsman to hit the opening ball of a Test for six. At the 2015 World Cup in Canberra he struck 215 from 147 balls against Zimbabwe, overtaking Sehwag for the fastest ODI double century. Less happily, in 2009 he arrived in England after seven IPL matches to lead West Indies in a Lord's Test that ended in a heavy defeat and drew fierce criticism.
Bowlers have tried to contain him with off-spin, Ravichandran Ashwin being especially successful, or with short deliveries at the body, which he often dispatches over square leg. He has also offered useful off-spin and fielded at slip. Injuries and disputes with the West Indies board made his international outings rarer, though he never formally retired from Tests. Recalled to the ODI side in 2017 after a gap of over two and a half years, he helped West Indies qualify for the 2019 World Cup, but his form faded at the tournament, where his team won just two games and finished ninth.
In the IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders signed him for 800,000 USD in 2008. Unsold in 2011, he joined Royal Challengers Bangalore as a replacement for the injured Dirk Nannes and took the orange cap that year with 608 runs and again in 2012 with 733. In 2013 he hit 175 against Pune Warriors, the highest T20 score, including a 31-ball hundred, and he came to call himself the 'Universe Boss'. After being dropped in 2017, he was bought by Kings XI Punjab at base price in 2018 and won matches for them. Elsewhere he led Jamaica Tallawahs to CPL titles, took St Kitts and Nevis Patriots to the final of the fifth edition, and was Player of the Series for Rangpur Riders in the 2017-18 Bangladesh Premier League after scoring the most runs.
