Chris Gayle the person is the best part of him: Virat Kohli

Chris Gayle seemingly played his last ODI against India at the Port of Spain in Trinidad. After faltering in the first two games, the southpaw came into his own in the last encounter. The Jamaican notched 72 runs off 41 balls with the help of eight fours and five sixes. Khaleel Ahmed accounted for his wicket after Gayle tried to slap him down the ground only to be caught by Virat Kohli.

As he walked away, the Indian team went up to him and shook hands with him. Even as he was returning back, Gayle perched his helmet on top of his bat handle in order to acknowledge the crowd. India won the game by six wickets (DLS Method) following which Kohli, the Indian skipper, couldn’t stop lauding Gayle. He praised Gayle the person and expressed his joy of spending time with him.

Gayle is a gem of a human being, says Virat

“I would like to congratulate him for a great career, playing for the West Indies. He has done so much for West Indies cricket and he is icon all over the world. He is one of the nicest human beings around, that for me is his biggest quality,”  the 30-year-old Kohli was quoted as saying in the post-match press conference.

“Everyone knows about his cricket but I think the kind of person he is, so helpful with youngsters, so fun-loving and always smiling even in the most pressure situations. For me, Chris Gayle the person is the best part of him. I have been fortunate to spend a lot of time as a friend and get to know him as a person. He is a gem of a human being and I think he can be really proud of that, firstly,” he added.

Kohli, who’s also the skipper of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), has rubbed shoulders with Gayle in the IPL franchise. Their camaraderie was also seen in the first ODI at the Providence Stadium in Guyana when they tapped their feet and showed their dance moves.

Lately, Gayle became the highest capped player for the Windies in ODI cricket with 301 games under his belt. He also surpassed the legendary Brian Lara as the leading run-scorer for the Caribbean team in One-Day Internationals and he accomplished the feat in the second ODI itself.

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