Christopher Henry Gayle or popularly known as Chris Gayle is one of the greatest destructive left-handed batters in world cricket history. Not only as a batter or all-rounder or cricketer, but Gayle is also popular as an entertainer both on and off the field.
Chris Gayle is one of those special cricketers who have dominated in all three international formats (Test, ODI and T20I). In every format, the tall left-handed batter has many times proved himself as a boss who can take control of a game. However, in this article, we are only looking back at his dominant T20 career.
Gayle was already popular in the cricket world before his T20 cricket debut. It was an International 20:20 Club Championship match between PCA Masters XI and Chilaw Marians Cricket Club at Leicester on 15th September 2005 when Gayle played his first-ever T20 match.
On 16th February 2006, when West Indies played their first-ever T20I match against New Zealand at Eden Park (Auckland), opener Gayle also made his T20 international debut. It was also a very historic match in international cricket as it had a tie result, and New Zealand ultimately won that match after the bowl out, which happened the very first time in international cricket history.
T20 cricket started to become popular since the inaugural ICC World T20 in 2007. In the very first game of that tournament (South Africa vs West Indies at Johannesburg), Gayle created history by becoming the first cricketer to score a century in T20 international cricket.
This passionate cricketer has always enjoyed this shortest format of the game. Not only in T20 international cricket, but Gayle is also popular in almost every top T20 cricket league. Like his record list, his T20 teams' list is also very huge as he has participated in the IPL, BBL, CPL, PSL, BPL and many other shorter format leagues. In most of these leagues, he has dominated as a left-handed batter and won the hearts of millions of cricket fans.
Chris Gayle’s contributions during West Indies’ successes in the ICC World T20 2012 and ICC World T20 2016
West Indies won their first-ever ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2012. During the ICC World T20 2016, West Indies became the first team to win this Men’s T20 World Cup trophy more than once. The Caribbean team won both those tournaments under the leadership of Daren Sammy, while Chris Gayle was also a crucial member in both of those successes.
In the ICC World T20 2012, Gayle was their second most run-scorer as the left-handed batter scored 222 runs in six innings with an average of 44.40 and a strike rate of 150.00. He hit three half-centuries in that tournament, including his best score in that tournament of 75 not out. Moreover, the off-spinner also picked up three wickets in that T20 World Cup.
Though Gayle majorly struggled during the ICC World T20 2016, where the left-handed batter scored 113 runs in four innings, he slammed a match-winning unbeaten century in that tournament against England (in Super 10). Gayle also scalped two wickets in one innings during that tournament.
Chris Gayle has so many T20 records which are very tough to count. Here we have mentioned some of his memorable records in T20 cricket history.
First batter to score a T20I century, which he recorded during the first match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup history.
First batter to carry his bat through a completed T20I innings.
Fastest T20 century (in 30 balls).
Highest individual scores in a T20 innings (175 not out).
Joint fastest T20 fifty (in 12 balls).
Most sixes in a T20 innings (18 sixes).
Most runs from fours and sixes in a T20 innings (154 runs with 13 fours and 17 sixes).
Only batter to manage at least 100 T20 50+ scores.
Only batter to score at least 10 T20 centuries.
First batter to score 10000 T20 runs.
Leading run-scorer in T20 cricket history.
First batter with 1000 T20 fours.
Batter with most T20 fours.
First batter to hit 1000 T20 sixes.
A batter with most T20 sixes.
(Records have been updated till 14th November 2021).
Due to his destructive batting, Gayle has earned many dominant nicknames from his fans. Some of his popular nicknames are “Universe Boss”, “The Boss”, “Six Machine”, “Master Storm” etc.
Though many believe that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 was his last game for West Indies, the 42-year-old Gayle still wants to bat more for the Caribbean team. The passionate cricketer is not yet ready to sign off from this game. Meanwhile, cricket fans are also hoping to see his batting storm for some more years.
