Happy birthday Chris Gayle

Without a doubt, one of cricket's most entertaining players, this big-hitting opener has become a Twenty20 specialist in recent years, having scored the first ever T20I century in 2007.

Chris Gayle made his international debut for the West Indies against India in 1999, just 10 days short of his 20th birthday, and his Test debut soon after in 2000 against Zimbabwe. 

Gayle soon made his presence felt, notching up his first Test ton with 175 against Zimbabwe. The West Indies had begun their downward slide at that time, and Gayle was among the few bright spots for them. At a time when openers were changed as often as a new born baby's diapers, Gayle was the one permanent fixture at the top of the order. He continued his good run with the bat, notching up tons regularly - with a 79-ball hundred in Cape Town in 2004, a particularly special one. 

He ran into a rough patch in 2004, when a rampant Steve Harmison worked him over regularly, dismissing him four times in seven innings and exposing his lack of footwork cruelly, as the West Indies were crushed 3-0. After that lean series, Gayle was dropped from the side, albeit due to sponsorship issues (regarding a dispute with the WICB). However, he came back with a vengeance, scoring a career-best 317 in Antigua against South Africa. He then had a fine Champions Trophy, scoring 474 runs with three tons, and bagging eight wickets as West Indies reached the final, losing to Australia. 

Gayle was made the captain of the Windies side after Ramnaresh Sarwan was injured and he did well as they won a Test match under his leadership against a strong South African side in Port Elizabeth in 2007-08. He held on to his captaincy even after Sarwan returned, but a home Test and ODI series loss to Australia left him disappointed and he was willing to give up the captaincy. However, he changed his mind and continued on, leading West Indies to a 1-0 Test series win over England - thereby bringing home the Wisden Trophy after a gap of nine years. That triumph lasted only a couple of months though, as England wrested the trophy back with a 2-0 win at home. 

Gayle loves to cut and pull and is formidable square of the wicket. His long reach helps him to get to the pitch of the ball and he creams deliveries over the infield with utter nonchalance. Gayle does not have a great technique, but like another fearsome contemporary opener - Virender Sehwag - he more than makes it up with his terrific hand-eye co-ordination. He is suspect when the ball swings or when it seams and is known to throw his wicket away a little too soon, a problem which perfectly highlights the inconsistent spells he has had in his career. 

However, due to his explosive ability with the bat and his handy bowling, Gayle was among the players that fetched a commanding price at the inaugural IPL auctions, going to Kolkata for USD 800,000. A groin injury saw him sit out of the 1st edition in 2008 though, but in 2009 he played in seven games before flying to England to lead the Windies in a Test match at Lord's. The match duly ended in a heavy defeat for the Windies inside three days. The defeat coupled with Gayle's comments that \\"he would not be so sad\\" if Test cricket died out, led to widespread criticism of him. In November 2010, he became the fourth cricketer to score two triple centuries in Test cricket after Donald Bradman, Brian Lara and Sehwag. 

In 2011, Gayle opted to join Bangalore in the fourth edition of the IPL. Over the next two years, he dominated the 4th, 5th and 6th seasons of the IPL with a fiery batting display making him the most feared batsman on the T20 circuit. On 23 April, 2013 during an IPL match against Pune India, Gayle broke a host of records with his amazing knock of 175 not out. He set records for the fastest century reached in any format of cricket, the highest individual score in a T20 match, and the most sixes scored in a single innings in the IPL - a feat only he could have achieved. 

Due to his massive differences with the board, Gayle was frequently out of the team. During this time, he featured in several Twenty20 leagues across the globe and entertained crowds with his aggressive batting peppered with massive sixes. However, he came back with a bang to the international team in 2012 and scored a solid 150 against New Zealand in his return Test. When West Indies toured Bangladesh in November 2012, Gayle became the first player to hit a six off the first ball in the history of Test cricket. 

In Sachin Tendulkar's farewell series in November 2013, Gayle managed to score only 97 runs in two Test matches as West Indies lost both the games, each within less than three days. In the opening ODI against India a few days later, Gayle suffered a hamstring tear on his left leg and was ruled out for the rest of the ODI series. He also missed the subsequent away series against New Zealand. Gayle returned for the T20 WC in Bangladesh, but was far from his usual self, inserting pressure on the middle-order with his sluggish scoring rate. Earlier, he was retained by the Bangalore franchise for the seventh season of the Indian T20 League. 

The big Jamaican played his 100th Test at his home ground in Jamaica when New Zealand visited the Caribbean in June 2014. He scored a fifty in that game to mark the landmark occasion, but could not save his side from losing. However, he soon injured his lower back and could not complete the home summer. He was expected to be fit for the Test series in South Africa, but could not recover in time. Nonetheless, he returned for the following T20I and ODI series. Though he didn't make an impact in the ODI series, Gayle was expected to shoulder the responsibility of the West Indies' batting line-up in the 2015 World Cup.

Gayle scored 340 runs in the World Cup, which included one ton and a fifty. He hammered a double ton against Zimbabwe and became only the fourth player in ODI history to score a 200. He thumped 215 in 147 balls, which included 10 fours and 16 sixes. It was also the third highest individual ODI score. He also put up a 372-run stand with Samuels, the most ever for any wicket in ODIs and tied up with AB and Rohit on the individual sixes record. 

Unique Chris Gayle Stats: 

Gayle was the first international Twenty20 centurion, and thus the first cricketer to score centuries in all three formats of the game. 

Gayle is one of five players to make three or more scores in excess of 150 in ODIs. 

Gayle is the first West Indian to score more than 7,000 runs and take more than 150 wickets in ODIs. 

Chris Gayle is probably the most powerful hitter of a cricket ball - he cleared the Lord Tennyson school outside The Oval when he swung Brett Lee. In the same over, he hit one that landed on the roof of The Oval. But the most monstrous hit of all was the one he managed against Nathan Hauritz in Perth which dropped on the Lillee-Marsh stand's roof, that was estimated by commentator Ian Healy to be approximately 140 metres long. 

Little known facts about Chris Gayle: 

Chris Gayle suffers from an irregular heart-beat. When he had toured India as an youngster he was forced to retire hurt due to this problem. After undergoing an operation that disorder has been corrected. 

Chris Gayle is one of the coolest cricketers to have walked on to a cricket field. A columnist once described Gayle as being so cool that he probably never took his shades off - even in the shower. However, in the Champions Trophy 2006, Gayle was involved in a heated argument with Michael Clarke in West Indies' match against Australia. After Windies won, he was gesturing and screaming animatedly - a very rare sight.