Chris Gayle facts for kids

Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle at the Docklands playing for the ICC World XI, 2005
Personal information
Full name	Christopher Henry Gayle
Born	21 September 1979 (1979-09-21) Kingston, Jamaica
Nickname	Gayle-Force, Gayle-Storm, World Boss, Universe Boss, Dark N' Stormy, Master Storm, Sixer, Spartan, Six Machine
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Batting style	Left-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm off spin
Role	Batting All-rounder, Opening batsman
International information
National side	West Indies
Test debut (cap 232)	16 March 2000 v Zimbabwe
Last Test	5 September 2014 v Bangladesh
ODI debut (cap 97)	11 September 1999 v India
Last ODI	21 March 2015 v New Zealand
ODI shirt no.	45
T20I debut (cap 6)	16 February 2006 v New Zealand
Last T20I	9 July 2017 v India
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1998–present	Jamaica
2005	Worcestershire
2008	Stanford Superstars
2008–10	Kolkata Knight Riders (squad no. 45)
2011–present	Royal Challengers Bangalore (squad no. 333)
2011–13	Sydney Thunder
2011	Matabeleland Tuskers
2012	Barisal Burners
2013–2016	Jamaica Tallawahs
2013	Dhaka Gladiators
2014	Highveld Lions
2015–16	Melbourne Renegades (squad no. 333)
2015	Barisal Bulls
2015–16	Somerset (squad no. 333)
2016	Lahore Qalandars (squad no. 333)
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	T20	FC
Matches	103	269	291	180
Runs scored	7,214	9,221	10,081	13,226
Batting average	42.18	37.33	40.48	44.83
100s/50s	15/37	22/47	18/61	32/64
Top score	333	215	175*	333
Balls bowled	7,109	7,222	1,864	12,511
Wickets	73	163	77	132
Bowling average	42.73	35.20	30.42	38.91
5 wickets in innings	2	1	0	2
10 wickets in match	0	0	0	0
Best bowling	5/34	5/46	4/22	5/34
Catches/stumpings	96/–	114/–	74/–	158/–
Source: ESPNCricinfo, 26 April 2017

Christopher Henry Gayle, OD (born 21 September 1979) is a Jamaican cricketer and a former captain, who plays international cricket for the West Indies. Gayle captained the West Indies' Test side from 2007 to 2010. Considered one of the greatest batsmen in limited-overs cricket, Gayle has set and tumbled numerous records across all three formats of cricket. He is known as a hard big hitter, very often hitting sixes; in 2012 he became the first player to hit a six off the first ball of a Test match.

He plays domestic cricket for Jamaica, and also represents the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, the Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League, the Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League and the Dhaka Gladiators in the Bangladesh Premier League. He has also represented Worcestershire, the Western Warriors, Sydney Thunder, Barisal Burners, Kolkata Knight Riders and Somerset in his career. He was also selected for team Uva Next for the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League in 2012.

Early career

Gayle started his cricket career with the famous Lucas Cricket Club in Kingston, Jamaica. Gayle claimed "If it was not for Lucas I don't know where I would be today. Maybe on the streets." Lucas Cricket Club's nursery has been named in honor of Gayle.

Technique and attitude

See also: Player of the Match awards (cricket)

The ball spat off the middle of his bat to all corners, turning into parabolas that the crowd was hollering for. Gayle faced more than half the balls bowled by the Warriors and produced a compressed 20-over highlights package.

Sharda Ugra, CricInfo on a Gayle IPL innings.

Gayle is known for his characteristic hitting, imposing physique, and timing. He attributes the latter to being very thin when young, and having a heavy bat. He is known for appearing very calm as the bowler approaches. "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" recorded Wisden and CricInfo. He holds numerous records that reflect his batting style, including record Twenty20 strike-rates and high scores.

"It is instinct... We premeditate at times, but most of those things are instinct. When a fast bowler runs in to me, my breathing is controlled. So you keep a still head, slow down your breathing. Sometimes I actually hold my breath, so I can be as still and well-balanced as possible. If you get too excited, you overreact more, and with the adrenalin, you lose focus quickly."

Records

• First batsman to score a century in each of international cricket's three formats of the game.
• First batsman to score a T20I century as well as a T20 World Cup century. He's also the only batsman to score two T20 World Cup tons. In fact, he holds the record for being the only batsman to score a T20I century in a losing cause as well as to score a T20I century in a winning cause. He too holds the record for being the only batsman to score a T20I century when batting first as well as when batting second.
• First international player to carry his bat through the entire innings in Twenty20 International. He is also the only player to Carry his bat in both tests and T20Is.
• First player to hit a six off the first ball in the history of Test cricket.
• First player of West Indies to hit a double century in ODIs as well as in World Cup history.
• First batsman to score 10,000 Twenty20 runs in career.
• He was only the fifth player in ODI history and second from West Indies to score an ODI hundred in his 100th ODI.
• Only player in world cricket to hit a triple hundred in Tests, a double hundred in ODIs and a hundred in Twenty20 Internationals.
• He also holds a joint record along with Yuvraj Singh for hitting the fastest T20 half century in 12 balls.
• In World Cup 2015, he hit the fastest double century against Zimbabwe. Therefore he holds the record for the fastest double century in ODI history as well as in World Cup history (off 138 balls)
• Gayle also holds the record for highest individual score in T20 which is 175* off just 66 balls against Pune Warriors India. Also holds the record for the highest individual score as an opener in Twenty20 cricket.
• Holds the record for the most number of sixes in T20I (100)
• Leading runscorer in all forms of T20s (10074 runs-as of 18 April 2017)
• Leading runscorer in ICC Champions Trophy history (791 runs)
• Most runs in a single ICC Champions Trophy series (474 runs)
• Gayle certainly has the unique record for scoring centuries in ICC U19 World Cup, ICC World Twenty20, ICC Cricket World Cup and in ICC Champions Trophy
• Holds the record for the most runs scored by a player in a any forms of T20 in a losing cause (151*) and the only batsman to score 150 in a T20 innings in a losing cause.
• He along with Marlon Samuels holds the record for the highest ever ODI runstand for any wicket (372 runs for 2nd wicket) and also it is the highest ever runstand in for any wicket in World Cup history
• He along with Devon Smith set the record for the highest opening stand in ICC World T20 history (145)

Images for kids

• 

  Gayle in 2010.

• 

  An innings-by-innings breakdown of Gayle's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

• 

  Gayle with the Sydney Thunder in 2011