Gayle’s tour de force
I just had the privilege of watching Chris Gayle’s legendary 175*(66) in a replay of the match (thanks to my Willow TV subscription). Man, it was dazzling!
What stood out for me the most was the pace of the innings - it wasn’t as if every other ball was hit for a four or a six. There were periods of lull, where he would push the ball around for singles and Dilshan would hog the strike, and suddenly, he would explode in a fit of violent rage. The over comparison makes this clear.
11 of the 20 overs fetched just 72 runs, while the rest 9 amounted to 191; four of them absolutely murdered by Gayle - for 21, 28, 29, 28. The last one (the 15th over of the innings by Murtaza) was especially stunning. He looked like he was slowing down, scoring only 9 of 14 after his hundred (excluding a six in the middle) but, it turned out to be just a breather.
As I sat openmouthed, I was instantly reminded of this recent article, which explains how Gayle has made the Twenty-20 format his own. The game is very very young, but Chris Gayle is well and truly its first master.
P.S. Why do I keep missing these once-in-a-lifetime innings’? When Yuvraj hit that 50 off 12 balls with six sixes in an over, I was in a bus coming back from my GRE test. When Tendulkar hit his 200*, I was driving through a snow storm. And now, this. I was fast asleep while the carnage was going on.
