‘Like watching the Home Run Derby’: Chris Gayle’s 200 one for the ages

Dileep Premachandran writes from Canberra, where Chris Gayle shook off an immeasurable weight from his shoulders on Tuesday at the Cricket World Cup.

West Indies batsman Chris Gayle hits the ball during their Cricket World Cup win against Zimbabwe on Tuesday in Canberra. Rob Griffith / Getty Images / February 24, 2015

In the West Indies victory against Pakistan last Saturday, Chris Gayle made four off 13 balls before he miscued a pull shot to long leg off the gigantic Mohammed Irfan.

By the time Gayle had trudged back to the pavilion, Gibraun Brijmohan, a family physician of Guyanese origin based in Adelaide, had tweeted: “Gayle goes ... Can’t buy a run. Let’s give him a retirement package ... Can’t fail repeatedly and still front up based on reputation.”

He tagged Whycliffe “Dave” Cameron, president of the West Indies Cricket Board, in the tweet and, bizarrely, Cameron re-tweeted it to the 1,000 or so followers he had on the social-media platform.

Gayle did not respond. Not on Twitter, anyway.

When he arrived at Canberra’s Manuka Oval yesterday, a ground where he had once smashed 146 against a Prime Minister’s XI, he had gone 19 one-day international innings without a hundred.

More importantly, he was averaging 14 for that 18-month period.

A back injury that has hampered him since January 2014 had not helped, with gym time restricted and movement stilted. There had been no let-up on the partying front, though, and it was not only Brijmohan who wondered whether he had become a luxury item for a team struggling to rediscover former glories.

Against Zimbabwe yesterday, he was lucky to face more than one ball. Tinashe Panyangara angled one at his pads and there were two distinct sounds as the Zimbabweans went up in appeal.

Steve Davis clearly assumed it was an inside edge on to pad and kept his index finger down.

Zimbabwe went for the review, which revealed that there was no bat and that the sound had come from contact with the two pads.

The ball-tracking technology showed the ball clipping the top of the bails, which gave the result to the umpire’s call and the original decision stood.

Zimbabwean shoulders slumped and you could almost see Gayle, usually the epitome of on-field cool, sigh with relief.

The good fortune did not end there. His first four was a lazy loft over mid-on and the ball barely cleared the fielder’s outstretched hands, while on 15 a big bunt over extra cover just eluded Elton Chigumbura.

Just 43 came from the first 10 overs, but when Gayle lofted Sean Williams’s left-arm spin over long-on for a big six, you sensed that Zimbabwe would rue their bad luck.

Each time Zimbabwe looked like quietening things, Gayle would launch into a shot or three.

As he neared 9,000 runs – only Brian Lara has achieved the feat for the West Indies – he struck consecutive sixes off Tafadzwa Kamungozi.

But with Sikander Raza bowling tight lines, including a maiden in the 33rd over, his second 50 took 54 balls and the celebrations for the century, his 22nd, were fairly muted.

That proved to be deceptive calm before a typhoon as Zimbabwe were taken for 207 runs in the final 15 overs – Gayle contributing 116 of them.

Towards the end, it was as if a giant was teeing off against a miniature bowling machine and putting the ball wherever he wanted.

There were only 5,544 inside the Manuka Oval but they cheered themselves hoarse as he neared his 200.

The bowlers and fielders appeared almost fatalistic as ball after ball was sent screeching to or over the fence.

When he drove a full toss from Tendai Chatara to the cover fence, Gayle, 35, became the first man to score a Twenty20 hundred, an ODI double-century and a Test triple for his ­country.

The second hundred had taken 33 balls and no one had got to 200 faster. It was like watching the Home Run Derby on a cricket field.

West Indies, soundly thrashed by Ireland in their opening game, have won their past two.

When they are good, they can be a danger to any side but, on off days, no one does self-sabotage better.

As with Gayle, who either blocks or swings in a mighty arc, there seldom is a middle ground.

On reaching 200, Gayle sank slowly to his knees – he never does anything in a hurry – and stretched out his arms. In the Twitter universe, the silence from @davec51 was deafening.

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