In the past, we heard of Don Bradman scoring a 20 ball hundred in a club game and became the fastest in the cricketing world. West Indies batsman Chris Gayle smashed fifty from 12 balls for the Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League on Monday to match India’s Yuvraj Singh’s record for the fastest half-century in Twenty20 cricket. His electrifying style of play has come under harsh criticism on several occasions but with his unparalleled histrionics, Chris Gayle has, time and again proved that he is cut above the others with regard to calculative hitting in the shortest form of the game. Left-hander Yuvraj achieved the feat against England in a group match at the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 in South Africa, smashing fast bowler Stuart Broad for six sixes in one over. Opening batsman Gayle plundered 21-year-old Adelaide Strikers bowler Greg West, playing his second T20 match, for 27 runs in the first over and hit the last four deliveries for six. His seventh maximum took Gayle past his half-century as he deposited spinner Travis Head over the long-on boundary. The live wire approach to the game has brought great innovation in stroke making and it time for T-20 World Cup to hammer and tong in March.
C.K. Ramani
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