Jason Holder surprised by my decision to retire: Chris Gayle

The hulk-like Chris Gayle has been in terrific form of late as he finished as the leading run-scorer of Windies’ home ODI series against England. The southpaw ended with 424 runs at an average of 106 and a strike-rate of 134.17. In every other game, he got substantial scores under his belt with 162 at the St George’s Park in Grenada being his top score in the five-match series.

Yesterday, he was in a different zone and smacked the fastest half-century by a Windies batsman in 19 deliveries. He was dismissed by Mark Wood after he racked up 77 runs from 27 balls with five fours and nine over-boundaries. The Jamaican also set the record of most sixes hit in an ODI series, nailing 39 of them. He admitted that it was the best ODI series of his career.

“I thought about it while I was walking around and I thought “Will this be my last innings in the Caribbean?” I would have loved to have bowed out in Jamaica, to be honest, but we will see, on a different day it might be a different answer.

This has to have been my best ODI series. To be able to do this at home and average over 100 against England is superb,” Gayle was quoted as saying in Sky Sports after the match.

I didn’t want to give the bowlers a chance

Last month, Gayle announced his retirement from ODI cricket after playing the upcoming World Cup in England and Wales. However, the decision has turned out to be a surprise for Windies captain Jason Holder courtesy of the ferocity with which Gayle has been hitting the leather in recent times.

“The captain said at the last game he can’t understand how I announced my retirement and I am striking the ball so well. The youngsters have something to feed off. To be honest today I picked up the wrong bat and went out there with,” he remarked.

Talking about the approach, he employed while batting during yesterday’s game in St Lucia, Gayle said: “Based on how I saw the pitch playing I didn’t want to give the bowlers a chance to get in a rhythm, sometimes when you’re chasing a low total it can be tricky. I thought in the first over I would try and push it and luckily when you’re in good form you see the ball a bit better.”

[interaction id=”5c78d0e1ed1699155b841172″]

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.