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HEADLINE: Why Gayle is the prototype of the pure T20 batsman
CaribbeanCricket.com
2017-04-15 06:51:52
The West Indian power-hitter's boundary-centric approach has made him perhaps the greatest exponent of successful T20 batting.
A hundred years ago, a revolution was in the offing in baseball. The dead-ball era was about to come to an end. The greatest champion and mascot of the new baseball was Babe Ruth, a strong, larger-than-life power-hitter who played for the New York Yankees, and laid the foundation not only for baseball as we know it today but also for the dominance of the Yankees over the last 100 years. The rules of baseball were changed at the end of the dead-ball era to favour power-hitting.
It would not be wrong to view Christopher Henry Gayle as the Ruth-like talisman of the T20 game. Few elite international players have embraced the format as Gayle has. As he approaches 10,000 T20 runs, he is over 2500 ahead of the next on the list. He has also hit nearly 300 sixes more than the closest competitor. It is not just the magnitude of his records, it is the revolutionary manner in which he has produced those numbers that makes him not just the front runner to be considered T20's Ruth, but perhaps the only T20 veteran who can claim such a mantle.
T20 is now well into its adolescence. For many reasons, it has struggled to establish itself as a sport in its own right, distinct from cricket - significant among them is the absence of a language that describes this new sport's distinctive measures of virtue. Perhaps unsurprisingly, much of the language deployed by professional observers is wholly borrowed from limited-overs cricket and even Test cricket.
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Emir
2017-04-15 08:20:54
In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
Article is fundamentally flawed the moment she used the baseball analogy. Somebody needs to let her know baseball was originated from cricket.
rhatid
2017-04-15 13:13:41
In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
The question is: Why is Gayle all over the world playing cricket cricket for other teams while the West Indies struggle to win a game against Pakistan and might even find themselves unable to make the World Cup next year? The answer is greed and lack of patriotism and lack of pride. I don't care what that guy achieves in his playing over the world, minus the Caribbean. I have lost all respect for him.
Halliwell
2017-04-15 14:14:17
In reply to rhatid
He said to tell you he won't lose sleep over your Non allegiance 
Drapsey
2017-04-15 15:31:23
In reply to rhatid
The question is: Why is Gayle all over the world playing cricket cricket for other teams while the West Indies struggle to win a game against Pakistan and might even find themselves unable to make the World Cup next year? The answer is greed and lack of patriotism and lack of pride. I don't care what that guy achieves in his playing over the world, minus the Caribbean. I have lost all respect for him.
After leading his Jamaica Tallawahs to the CPL championship last season, it would be interesting to know the real reason he didn't represent the WI in the just concluded T20I series against Pakistan.
Did he decline selection, or proactively indicate his unavailability?
Cleg
2017-04-15 17:16:21
In reply to rhatid
I have lost all respect for him.
Really?
...and when did you have this "respect"???
rhatid
2017-04-15 21:43:48
In reply to Halliwell
I guess you are his water guy. I know he won't lose any sleep. Remember I am talking about patriotism and pride. Those things mean nothing to him. Enjoy!
rhatid
2017-04-15 21:47:58
In reply to Drapsey
I guess the poor West Indies cricket board does not have the means as do the CPL and IPL to throw out the big bucks. So hell with them and the people of the region.
jelfew
2017-04-15 22:22:54
In reply to rhatid
Could it have anything to do with that tweet (reported repeated tweet) by the Pres of WICB?
rhatid
2017-04-15 22:30:25
In reply to Cleg
"....and when did you have this respect?"
I guess back in the days when he didn't yet see himself too big for the lowly West Indies.
mikesiva
2017-04-16 06:07:31
In reply to rhatid
Why are you so concerned about the West Indies? Hardly anyone is any more....
Watch how few fans turn up to watch the West Indies play a Test against Pakistan at Sabina Park, and then watch how many fans turn up to support Jamaica in the CPL.
Gayle is playing to the modern-day fans...why should he be concerned about a handful of dinosaurs?
Emir
2017-04-16 09:23:08
In reply to mikesiva
Watch how few fans turn up to watch the West Indies play a Test against Pakistan at Sabina Park, and then watch how many fans turn up to support Jamaica in the CPL.
rhatid
2017-04-16 14:26:17
In reply to mikesiva
Why are you s concerned about the West Indies?
Maybe it's nostalgia. Or maybe there are still some of us who believe that test cricket is the ultimate. And we know that if there's gonna be test cricket in the region it has to be a regional thing, not individual islands.
Courtesy
2017-04-16 14:27:50
