Chris Gayle Biography
Source(google.com.pk)Full name Christopher Henry Gayle
Born September 21, 1979, Kingston, Jamaica
Major teams West Indies, ICC World XI, Jamaica, Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Stanford Superstars, Western Australia, Worcestershire
Playing role Allrounder
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
Christopher Henry Gayle
A thrusting Jamaican left-hander, Gayle earned himself a black mark on his first senior tour - to England in 2000 - where the new boys were felt to be insufficiently respectful of their elders. But a lack of respect, for opposition bowlers at least, has served Gayle well since then. Tall and imposing at the crease, he loves to carve through the covers off either foot, and has the ability to decimate the figures of even the thriftiest of opening bowlers.
In a lean era for West Indian cricket - and fast bowling in particular - Gayle's pugnacious approach has become an attacking weapon in its own right. His 79-ball century at Cape Town in January 2004, on the back of a South African first innings of 532, was typical of his no-holds-barred approach. However, Gayle's good run ended when England came calling early in 2004, and he averaged 26 against their potent pace attack - Steve Harmison, in particular, fancied his chances against Gayle, dismissing him four times in seven innings, as a lack of positive footwork was exposed. But men with little footwork often baffle experts, and after returning to form with an uncharacteristic century against Bangladesh, he exacted his revenge on England's bowlers with a battering not seen since Lara's 400, before coming within a whisker of emulating Lara himself, with a career-best 317 against South Africa in Antigua. In the disastrous 2005-06 tour of New Zealand he led the batting in the three-Test series, piling 235 runs - no other West Indian touched the 200-run mark. He also bowls brisk non-turning offspin, with which he has turned himself into a genuine one-day allrounder. Maturing quickly, he has become a consistently prolific scorer in the ODIs. He averaged over 40 in the 2006-07 season with three hundreds - an unbeaten 133 against South Africa in the Champions Trophy being the highlight, and three fifties. But expected to be one of the stars of the World Cup in the Caribbean, his batting was a major disappointment. In the absence of the injured Ramnaresh Sarwan for their tour in 2007, Gayle was handed the captaincy for the limited-overs series in England and Ireland and found immediate success by beating England 2-1. He also led in the Test series against South Africa, leaving with a 1-1 result, and was retained as captain ahead of Sarwan for the home Tests against Sri Lanka in 2008. A subsequent Test and ODI defeat at home against Australia led him to quit the captaincy, but he changed his mind, and the following season was instrumental in the defeats of England, both as captain of the Stanford Superstars in their winner-takes-all US$20million match in Antigua in November, and the Test team that secured a 1-0 triumph to bring home the Wisden Trophy after a nine-year hiatus. By now, however, the Indian Premier League was taking over as his primary concern - Gayle's US$800,000 price-tag made him one of Kolkata's most expensive players, and though a groin injury ruled him out of the first edition in 2008, he played seven games in 2009 before flying to England just 48 hours before a Test match at Lord's against England. The match was lost in three days, leading a disillusioned Gayle to declare that he "would not be so sad" if Test cricket died out.
His destructive batting has got him nicknames like ‘GayleForce’ and ‘GayleStorm’. He is 6ft 3in tall and an all-rounder, bats left-handed and bowls right-arm off break. He captained the West Indies’ Test side from 2007 to 2010. Apart from playing for West Indies, he is also associated with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, Sydney Thunder in the BBL and the Barisal Burners in the BPL.
Royal Challengers
Chris Gayle played for West Indies at the youth international level before making his first class debut at the age of 19 for Jamaica.
Chris Gayle made his One Day International (ODI) debut on September 11, 1999 against India and was included in the West Indian squad for the 2003 World Cup. At the 2006 Champions Trophy, he was a part of the team that played at the finals against Australia.
Chris Gayle played his first international Test match on March 16, 2000 against Zimbabwe, and in July 2001, he set up a 214-run partnership with Daren Ganga, a teammate, which became the record for opening partnerships at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo. By the end of 2002, he scored three centuries against India and also became the third West Indian to score 1000 runs in a calendar year. In January 2004, Chris Gayle hit a century off 79 balls when chasing a first-inning South African score of 532, following which he again scored a century against Bangladesh.
In 2005, Chris Gayle was included in the Test series against South Africa; he played in the fourth match in Antigua and made 317 runs. It was also the first triple century against South Africa. During the 2005-06 tour of New Zealand, Chris Gayle opened the batting in the three-Test series and scored 235 runs, becoming the first West Indian to cross the 200-run mark.
Chris Gayle played his first Twenty20 international (T20I) on February 16, 2006 against New Zealand and in 2007, he scored 117 runs off just 57 balls, in the opening match against South Africa at the International Cricket Council (ICC) World T20 Championship.
In April 2008, Chris Gayle was purchased by the Kolkata Knight Riders team for $800,000, making him one of the most expensive players of the Kolkata team at the 2008 Indian Premier League (IPL). However, he failed to play as he had to join the West Indies team for a series against Australia.
Royal Challengers Bangalore got Chris Gayle as a replacement for Dirk Nannes, who got injured during a match against Mumbai Indians in the fourth season. Until Chris Gayle's entry into the squad the team was struggling and were not well placed in the league. But, since his arrival, he placed Royal Challengers Bangalore on the top of the points table. No ground is too big for the Caribbean lad who once scored 36 runs off just one over in a match against Kochi.
Chris Gayle was undoubtedly the most entertaining player of IPL 2011. Gayle scored 608 runs which includes 2 hundreds and also picked up 8 wickets in 12 matches of IPL 2011. Unfortunately, RCB lost to Chennai Super Kings in the finals. Much to the delight of RCB fans, Gayle was retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League.
In 2012, Chris Gayle scored a whopping 128* of just 62 balls against Delhi Daredevils. The innings was paced with seven 4’s and thirteen 6’s at a strike rate of 206.45!
Chris Gayle’s aggregate in IPL5 is 733 at an average of 61.08 and strike rate of 160.74. In his 14 innings, he has 46 - 4’s and 59 - 6’s with 7 fifties and 1 hundred. The only person next to him standing second was Gautham Gambhir at an aggregate of 588 runs. Well, the stat says it all!
Chris Gayle also helped his team (West Indies) win the T20 World Cup 2012. He scored 222 runs in 7 matches at an average of 44.40 and strike rate of 150. He hit 19 – 4’s and 16 – 6’s in the league which includes three 50’s.
When not playing cricket, Chris Gayle enjoys playing video games and also likes watching Tom and Jerry shows on the television. Recently, we have been seeing him dancing the GANGNAM STYLE, celebrating and enjoying his life!
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