Even at 60, I’d fancy scoring runs against the best bowlers: Chris Gayle

Though fast bowler Oshane Thomas bagged the Player of the Match award for his five-wicket haul in the fifth ODI against England in St Lucia, there was one more man who tormented the visiting team and it’s none other than the swashbuckling Windies’ opener Chris Gayle. The Jamaican teed off right from the outset and inflicted utter mayhem in the Three Lions camp, chasing a paltry target of 113.

He became the fastest half-century scorer for the Caribbeans in 19 balls and ended with 77 runs from 27 balls with five boundaries and nine sixes. He got out to Mark Wood in the eighth over, but by then the damage had already been done. Gayle ended with a staggering 424 runs in the series at a titanic average of 106. The southpaw racked up those runs at an incredible strike-rate of 134.17.

It’s just the body which is always the worrying part for me

Gayle, who would hang his boots from ODI cricket after the upcoming World Cup in England and Wales, smacked as many as 39 sixes and set the record for the most sixes by a batter in an ODI series. Quite expectantly, he oozed confidence and was ecstatic from the personal viewpoint. He is concerned about his body but believes that he can smack bowlers around the park even at the age of 60.

“I’m not surprised by how well I’ve done, or the number of sixes. Sixes come along. It’s just natural, to be honest. In T20s, I score a lot of sixes as well, but this is the first time in an ODI series. To hit 39 sixes aged 39 – it’s fantastic from a personal point of view,” Gayle was quoted as saying in International Cricket Council’s (ICC) official website on Sunday.

“But my mindset is that, even when I’m 60, I’ll still think I can do it. I’d still think I can score runs against the best bowlers in the world. That will never change. It’s just the body which is always the worrying part for me,” the hulk-like batsman added.

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