Chris Gayle reveals the name of the cricketer who inspired him

Windies cricketer Chris Gayle is one of the most dominant batsmen of his era. Gayle, who holds multiple records in international cricket, is fondly known as the ‘Universe Boss’. The cricketer is arguably the best batsman in the shortest format of the game when it comes to the statistics point of view. Recently, the big Jamaican revealed the names of the cricketers he grew up watching.

It is worth noting that the cricketer who Chris Gayle grew up watching never really played international cricket. Gayle, who is currently in Zimbabwe playing for Windies in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers, remarked that he lived near a cricket club in his childhood days. His elder brother, Vanclive Parris, played youth cricket for Jamaica.

Also, he often visited the club to watch the players play in the local fixtures. At the club, he closely followed and got inspired by Delroy Morgan. Delroy Morgan was a Jamaican opening batsman who scored 2878 runs in his career spanning from 1986 to 2000. Gayle went on to quote that he often missed school to watch him play.

“I grew up with a lot of cricket happening around me in my city. I lived next to Lucas Cricket Club and I used to go and score the board and watch my older brother at that time. There were these two opening batsmen,” Chris Gayle quoted.

“One of whom was Delroy Morgan, who played first-class cricket but unfortunately never eventually went on to represent the country. So, I used to watch those two as a youngster, and then obviously as you get older you start watching international cricket. But it was them who got me started,” he added further.

Support from the family

Commenting further on similar lines, Chris Gayle revealed that his family always inspired him to play cricket. His family wanted him to pursue a career in the sport. The family background had a lot of cricket players and cricketing stories, and that is how things started for him on the cricket field.

“My family inspired me to become a cricketer, to be honest. They all played cricket, so that kick-started my career,” revealed the Windies great.

For the latest cricket news, follow CricTracker.