Chris Gayle opens up on his autobiography; reveals the toughest bowler he has faced
The world’s most explosive batsman Chris Gayle was recently in India where he was marketing his autobiography “Six Machine”. He released his book in the month of June and it has caused quite a stir among fans all around the world.
WIth BCCI President Anurag Thakur and former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag present at the marketing event, as expected, the book has become the talk of the town.
During the marketing event , Gayle also went on to state that he would give the first copy of the book to current Real Madrid and Portugal footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. “I will give the first copy to Cristiano Ronaldo. I read his book and had read about the struggle he has grown through. Grown up as a kid, struggled, gained lot of experience then went on excel and then became a big superstar as well. So, I can say I have also grown up in a similar fashion like him. Most of the stuff Ronaldo has done on the field. But he was not given that much credit as much as he deserved, and the same goes for me as well.” He said.
Much like his explosive batting, Gayle opened his autobiography with a statement “I’m weird, I’m a weirdo. You think you know me? You don’t know me.” Gayle who is loved by everybody gives us a keen insight into his life, right from his childhood upto his current glamorous life.
After telling the readers that he is a wierdo and takes them on the journey of a shy, cricket obsessed kid, growing up in a tin-roofed shack in Kingston who goes on to become one of the game’s most exciting players, travelling the globe as various franchises around the world look to sign him up.
In the book, Gayle compares himself to superstars Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo. He talks about the various records he has broken including being one of only four men to have scored two Test triple centuries and being the first batsman to smash a ton in each of the three formats.
“If Zlatan were a cricketer, it’s the sort of thing he would be trying. Except the whole point about this sort of crazy deeds is that there’s no trying involved -- it just comes naturally. It’s your personality coming through in what you do. I don’t hunt these records. It might work for other people, but it would never work for me,” Gayle writes.
During the course of the autobiography, Gayle also reveals who the most difficult bowler was, according to him. It did not come as a suprise to many as he revealed Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar was the one whom he had trouble batting against.
“Shoaib Akhtar. It’s so easy to demolish him (just kidding). Akhtar is too fast. Bowlers always create difficulties for batsman especially spinners when you tour the sub-continent. It’s always tricky on slower wickets,” he says.
Chris Gayle is currently an integral part of the West Indies T20 team and hopes to make his way back into the test team as well. He was part of the West Indies squad which won the World T20 this year.