“Whichever position I bat in, I will be the best in the world” – Chris Gayle
Chris Gayle believes he will remain the best T20 batsman in the world regardless of his position in the batting order. The 41-year-old has played 58 T20Is and has opened the batting in all of them; however, he said he is open to batting in any position in West Indies’ bid to defend their T20 World Cup in India later this year.
Chris Gayle is among the four openers named in West Indies’ 14-man squad for the T20I series against Sri Lanka that starts on Thursday. The others are Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons and Andre Fletcher.
Regarded as the greatest T20 batsman of all-time, Chris Gayle was seen in a new avatar for Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in the IPL 2020, where he batted at No.3 to accommodate the in-form KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal at the top. It was coach Anil Kumble’s idea to play the Jamaican at that number, and the move paid dividends with him averaging 43.88 and striking at over 144.
Ahead of the West Indies-Sri Lanka T20I series, Chris Gayle addressed a press conference on Monday where he stated:
“It’s (batting position) not a problem. I’m good at playing spin, I’m as good at playing fast bowlers as anyone as I’m an opener. But with West Indies cricket, whatever role they want me to play, I’m willing to play that particular role. We haven’t fully discussed it, but I’ll get a bit of a heads up and work out what to look forward to in this particular series and down into the World Cup.
“If it’s opening, I’m ready, No. 3, No. 5 – I’m pretty much flexible. I will still be the best No. 5 in the world, best No. 3 in the world.”
Chris Gayle returns to the West Indies T20I side after two years
A two-time T20 World Champion, Chris Gayle, will be playing his first T20I in two years. In fact, he hasn’t played for West Indies since the home ODI series against India in August 2019.
With 13,961 runs, Chris Gayle tops the run-chart in T20s. West Indies’ captain Kieron Pollard is in second spot with 10,578 runs, and he has played 65 innings more. He also has 22 centuries in this format; the next in the list are three Australian men – Michael Klinger, David Warner and Aaron Finch – who have eight hundreds each.
While piling up runs, Chris Gayle has maintained a career strike rate of over 146, further illustrating his impact as a T20 batsman.