18 Facts about Chris Gayle- The Jamaican king

18 Facts about Chris Gayle- The Jamaican king: The name of Chris Gayle is enough to shiver the hell out of even the best bowlers of the world. The 6 feet 4 inch tall West Indian southpaw can destroy any bowling attack on his day and when he gets into his demolishing flow of hitting then he becomes unstoppable. Gayle is a player who follows only one mantra and that is to enjoy every bit of the game which even gets reflected in his swashbuckling repertoire of strokes. He just stands and delivers and when he gets going the spectators become fielders and fielders become spectators.

Today on his 37th birthday, we list 18 Facts about Chris Gayle- The Jamaican king:

1. Birth:

Chris Gayle was born on 21 September 1979 in Kingston, Jamaica.

2. Lucas Cricket Club:

Gayle credits Lucas Cricket Club for his success in cricket. It was from this club that he started his cricketing journey. He had even said that “If it was not for Lucas I don’t know where I would be today. Maybe on the streets”. In his honor, the nursery of Lucas Cricket Club has been named after him.

3. Domestic Debut:

At an age of 19 years, Gayle made his First-Class debut in 1998/99 for Jamaica. In the same year, he made his List-A debut as well. Prior to playing First-Class cricket he had represented West Indies at youth international level as well.

4. International debut:

The dashing West Indian southpaw made his ODI debut against India in 1999 while his Test debut came against Zimbabwe in 2000. But it was not memorable for him as in his first ODI he scored only 1 runs while in his Test debut he could manage only 33 runs.

5. Slow Start:

His international career didn’t got off to a flier as he didn’t score heavily during initial years of his career. Till 2001, Chris could score only 1 century in his international career and fared up like an average player.

6. Breakthrough year:

It was in 2002 when his fortunes changed completely as he accumulated big runs with the bat. In 2002, he compiled 2,013 runs in international cricket which included 4 centuries and 14 half-centuries.

7. Irregular heartbeat:

There was a time when he suffered from the problem of irregular heartbeat, a thing which caused him many difficulties during his early days in cricket. Gayle was retired hurt due to this problem as well when he toured India as a youngster. He had to undergo operation after which the disorder finally got corrected.

8. First Ball six:

In 2012, he became the first cricketer in Test cricket history to smash the first ball of a Test match for a six. He achieved this feat against Bangladesh and the bowler was Sohag Gazi.

9. Strained relationship with WICB:

Chris Gayle doesn’t have the best of relationships with West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and throughout his career he has been involved in several run-ins with the board.

10. Fastest century in Professional cricket:

Gayle holds the record for slamming the fastest century in professional cricket. During IPL 2013, while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) he took just 30 balls to reach his 100 against Pune Warriors.

11. Major teams:

Till now in his career he has represented teams like West Indies, Barisal Burners, Dhaka Gladiators, ICC World XI, Jamaica, Jamaica Tallawahs, Kolkata Knight Riders, Matabeleland Tuskers, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Somerset, Stanford Superstars, Sydney Thunder, Western Australia and Worcestershire.

12. Double of 7000 runs and 150 wickets in ODIs:

Gayle is the first West Indian cricketer to score in excess of 7000 runs in ODIs and take wickets in excess of 150.

13. IPL 2011 auctions:

Everyone was shocked when no franchise bid for him during the IPL auctions 2011 in the first round.

14. Celebration Style:

Chris Gayle is a kind of player who believes in playing hard on the field and partying even harder off the field. He is a party animal who loves to celebrate and cherish every moment of his life. Even on the field he has executed some of the most memorable celebrations ever witnessed on the field of cricket. Who can forget his famed Gangnam dance!

15. Kind-hearted guy:

During an IPL match, one of his gigantic sixes injured a 10-year-old girl in M Chinnaswamy, Bangalore. But as soon as he learned that one of his sixes had broken the nose of a girl he visited her in the hospital and wished her for a speedy recovery.

16. T20 King:

Chris Gayle is renowned as the king of T20 cricket with almost every other record in his kitty. He has played 222 T20 matches and has accumulated 8,224 runs at a staggering average of 44.21 and a blistering strike rate of 149.25 which says much more than words can say. Gayle has scored 16 centuries and 52 half-centuries with 586 sixes in the shortest format of the game.

17. Accomplished ODI and Test player:

Off-late Gayle has been known for his fiery batting in T20 cricket but that doesn’t take anything away from his illustrious Test and ODI career. The demolishing batter has played 103 Test and has scored 7,214 runs at an average of 42.18 while in 269 ODIs he has blasted 9,221 runs.

18. Unbelievable stat:

The Jamaican-born cricketer is the only cricketer in the world to score a triple century in Tests, double century in ODI cricket as well as a century in T20Is. He is also the first cricketer of the world to score century across all the formats of the game. Gayle is also one of five players to make three or more scores in excess of 150 in ODIs while he is one of four players to score two triple centuries in Tests.