Chris Gayle: The Twenty20 king

Dubai: If there is one cricketer who deserves the tag of the king of Twenty20 cricket it is West Indies star batsman Chris Gayle. This format of the game fits his style of batting so well that even when he plays in the other formats, it seems as if he is playing in a T20 match.

Gayle loves to thrash every ball, giving the impression of overs fast running out for him. At the batting crease, he always looks intimidating and extremely destructive. The ease with which he is able to hit any bowler to the boundary or for a six proves that he has that extra ability no other batsman in the world possesses today.

Very often it is bowlers, especially fearsome pacers, that create fear among batsmen.

Gayle has changed that trend and got bowlers fearing having to bowl at him. Be it a good length ball or short one, it is always difficult to predict where the ball will have to be retrieved from once Gayle has let fly.

Cricket fans from any country, despite their deep patriotic feelings, enjoy watching him bat. In fact, fans can even be in danger of injury when Gayle is batting if they don’t keep an eye on the ball when one of his sixers flies into the stands.

Indeed, in April this year during the Indian Premier League, one of his sixers against Pune Warriors at Bangalore broke the nose of an 11-year-old girl and she had to undergo surgery. Gayle visited the girl at the hospital the next day to apologise to her. In turn, the young girl commented that it was an honour to be hit by him.

It is this admiration and love from supporters that inspire him to play whirlwind knocks. He gifts them with a six on demand. A recent study revealed that Gayle would hit a six within nine to 12 balls of his stay at the crease. He hit the first century in Twenty20 internationals when he scored 117 against South Africa at Johannesburg in 2007. This remains the highest score by any batsman in a Twenty20 World Cup match.

No wonder, then, that today he is the most-sought-after Twenty20 cricketer in the world and he has played this format of the game for 11 teams.

For Gayle, Sri Lanka, the venue for the Twenty20 World Cup, is special to him, for it was in Galle that he played an epic Test knock of 333 runs in 2010 against Sri Lanka.

Once during an interview with Gayle, I asked for his take on his six-hitting ability. He surprised me with an unexpected answer: “I go to the gym every day. The fitter I feel, the better I bat.”

Gayle does not like to talk about his technique. In fact, he believes his batting technique is like any of any other batsman in the world. “The only difference maybe is the way I think. I love to get off to a quick start and go for my shots. But I always try to adapt to the situation,” he added.

Opponents can only be assured of victory after Gayle is dismissed, but even rival fans never want to see that happen.

For as long as Gayle is at the crease, the game of cricket is a joy to behold, especially Twenty20 cricket.