How do you get a nice buzz on a Tuesday morning? Run a couple of miles in the nearest park? Sip delicately on a steaming cup of Java? Take a long, slow drag on an illegal white stick? Maybe.
Or do what I did. Watch Chris Gayle bat against Zimbabwe in a World Cup encounter. Watch him score 215 off 147 balls in a record 372 run partnership with Marlon Samuels. See records tumble as he hit 16 sixes and also became the first double centurion in the history of the World Cup and the fastest double centurion in ODIs of all time.
Possessed
Batting like a man possessed, with a power so absolute and fearsome that he took the entire game by the scruff of its neck and shoved it into a deep hell-hole of Rasta-style, home-bred Jamaican terror. Hapless bowlers looked at their captain shifty eyed-hoping against hope that they would not be given the ball. The wicket keeper stopped sledging as he realized that every word uttered was making things worse.
The fast bowlers in the commentary box, Shaun Pollock and Ian Bishop, stopped analysing Gayle’s batting and started thinking aloud about how helpless they would have been bowling against this primal and ruthless machine. A dazed Zimbabwe captain stopped shuffling his field around as Gayle sent every ball skywards and outside the boundary rope.
You could have had the entire crowd come in and stand inside the ground and it would have made no difference. And the lucky spectators at the Manuka Oval in Australia’s national capital of Canberra revelled in it. They cheered and cheered, sometimes lapsing into a stunned silence at the carnage taking place on the cricketing ground.
My hands are still shaking! Hell, what a buzz!
Sunset? Like heck!
Chris Gayle is 35 years old. He has had a long and cherished career as an opening batsman and part-time spinner for West Indies. But unlike the reverence and awe which great talent normally attracts, his life has taken a vastly different turn. Years of indifferent performances, run-ins with board members and team mates, injuries to his hamstring and lower back and his devil-may-care attitude took a bit of the shine off a glittering career.
Over the last few years, as he grew older and less agile, Gayle started playing T20 leagues around the world with national appearances becoming quite sporadic. In the run up to the Cup, his form was average and the runs were starting to dry up.
The motivation
And then came the bombshell. A week ago, after the initial loss against Ireland, the Windies Cricket Board chief, Dave Cameron, retweeted this fan tweet:
“Gayle goes…Can’t buy a run….Let’s give him a retirement package…..can’t fail repeatedly and still front up based on reputation.”
What an extraordinary way to motivate your entire team! A team of which you are the corporate leader! The West Indies team will probably be thanking him right now for this. And Chris Gayle, after he recovers from this giant effort, should actually call him up and personally thank this gent for energising him to score such a thundering knock.
The enigma
But then that is the enigma called Chris Gayle. All he needs is some sort of inspiration to magically revive himself – which he has done time and again. I remember the IPL knock for Royal Challengers Bangalore a couple of seasons back where he played a similar knock and scored 150 plus in a T20 game.
There have been many attacking stroke players in this great game – Barry Richards, Vivian Richards, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Sachin, Sourav, Afridi, AB De Villiers and many more. But no one can hit the cricket ball with such impunity and regularity over an entire innings like Chris Gayle when he hits that power switch. He can hit you for a six or a four every ball, effortlessly. You can try anything and the bat still comes down like a scythe and in a flash the ball is soaring heavenwards. And he will do it repeatedly till the bowler gives up and just prays for divine intervention.
The match was not played on a small ground in New Zealand. Zimbabwe actually bowled decently at the beginning of the innings and had restricted the Windies to 177 for 1 after 37 overs. And then for the next 13, they experienced this breathtaking display of power hitting as the game got big on them.
Issuing a warning
This knock was actually more than just about the splendid batting. The entire West Indies team looked charged up and positive and India and South Africa should take special note as they prepare for their matches ahead.
Spare a thought for Marlon Samuel – Gayle’s partner today who quietly scored a 133 at the other end and patiently watched a truly great knock unfold from the best seat in the house!
But the world today bows to Chris Gayle – old he may be but if you make the mistake of tickling a sleeping dragon, be prepared to face the consequences.
As The Mask put it so succinctly – Hang on Sugar! Daddy’s got a sweet tooth tonight!
Rathindra Basu lives, breathes, sleeps sports and is forever waiting for the next Indian sporting triumph. Since this usually takes much time and infinite patience he also listens to music, reads voraciously and eats almost anything that moves!
Or do what I did. Watch Chris Gayle bat against Zimbabwe in a World Cup encounter. Watch him score 215 off 147 balls in a record 372 run partnership with Marlon Samuels. See records tumble as he hit 16 sixes and also became the first double centurion in the history of the World Cup and the fastest double centurion in ODIs of all time.
Possessed
Batting like a man possessed, with a power so absolute and fearsome that he took the entire game by the scruff of its neck and shoved it into a deep hell-hole of Rasta-style, home-bred Jamaican terror. Hapless bowlers looked at their captain shifty eyed-hoping against hope that they would not be given the ball. The wicket keeper stopped sledging as he realized that every word uttered was making things worse.
The fast bowlers in the commentary box, Shaun Pollock and Ian Bishop, stopped analysing Gayle’s batting and started thinking aloud about how helpless they would have been bowling against this primal and ruthless machine. A dazed Zimbabwe captain stopped shuffling his field around as Gayle sent every ball skywards and outside the boundary rope.
You could have had the entire crowd come in and stand inside the ground and it would have made no difference. And the lucky spectators at the Manuka Oval in Australia’s national capital of Canberra revelled in it. They cheered and cheered, sometimes lapsing into a stunned silence at the carnage taking place on the cricketing ground.
My hands are still shaking! Hell, what a buzz!
Sunset? Like heck!
Chris Gayle is 35 years old. He has had a long and cherished career as an opening batsman and part-time spinner for West Indies. But unlike the reverence and awe which great talent normally attracts, his life has taken a vastly different turn. Years of indifferent performances, run-ins with board members and team mates, injuries to his hamstring and lower back and his devil-may-care attitude took a bit of the shine off a glittering career.
Over the last few years, as he grew older and less agile, Gayle started playing T20 leagues around the world with national appearances becoming quite sporadic. In the run up to the Cup, his form was average and the runs were starting to dry up.
The motivation
And then came the bombshell. A week ago, after the initial loss against Ireland, the Windies Cricket Board chief, Dave Cameron, retweeted this fan tweet:
“Gayle goes…Can’t buy a run….Let’s give him a retirement package…..can’t fail repeatedly and still front up based on reputation.”
What an extraordinary way to motivate your entire team! A team of which you are the corporate leader! The West Indies team will probably be thanking him right now for this. And Chris Gayle, after he recovers from this giant effort, should actually call him up and personally thank this gent for energising him to score such a thundering knock.
The enigma
But then that is the enigma called Chris Gayle. All he needs is some sort of inspiration to magically revive himself – which he has done time and again. I remember the IPL knock for Royal Challengers Bangalore a couple of seasons back where he played a similar knock and scored 150 plus in a T20 game.
There have been many attacking stroke players in this great game – Barry Richards, Vivian Richards, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Sachin, Sourav, Afridi, AB De Villiers and many more. But no one can hit the cricket ball with such impunity and regularity over an entire innings like Chris Gayle when he hits that power switch. He can hit you for a six or a four every ball, effortlessly. You can try anything and the bat still comes down like a scythe and in a flash the ball is soaring heavenwards. And he will do it repeatedly till the bowler gives up and just prays for divine intervention.
The match was not played on a small ground in New Zealand. Zimbabwe actually bowled decently at the beginning of the innings and had restricted the Windies to 177 for 1 after 37 overs. And then for the next 13, they experienced this breathtaking display of power hitting as the game got big on them.
Issuing a warning
This knock was actually more than just about the splendid batting. The entire West Indies team looked charged up and positive and India and South Africa should take special note as they prepare for their matches ahead.
Spare a thought for Marlon Samuel – Gayle’s partner today who quietly scored a 133 at the other end and patiently watched a truly great knock unfold from the best seat in the house!
But the world today bows to Chris Gayle – old he may be but if you make the mistake of tickling a sleeping dragon, be prepared to face the consequences.
As The Mask put it so succinctly – Hang on Sugar! Daddy’s got a sweet tooth tonight!
Rathindra Basu lives, breathes, sleeps sports and is forever waiting for the next Indian sporting triumph. Since this usually takes much time and infinite patience he also listens to music, reads voraciously and eats almost anything that moves!
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