Well, there is no doubting Chris Gayle’s ability to hit the rooftop as if by sheer and mere habit. The highest run-getter and six-hitter in IPL 2011 and 2012, the Jamaican entertainer is well on his way to making the Orange Cap his own once again this season. He is topping both the charts this season.
Bowlers have gone through sleepless nights, fielders have craned their necks watching the ball soar over, spectators have jumped up and down in their seats craving for more.
“We want sixer....!” shouts have been almost instantly answered with the minimum of fuss by this gangling, 6’ 3” left-hander, for whom showering the leather all over the place with regal disdain comes easier than sipping juice during strategic breaks. Is there no method in his madness that sends spectators into a frenzy? What is the strategy, wittingly or unwittingly, that Gayle adopts in making T20 batting look so delightful and yet so ominous from the opposition’s point of view.
If you have a close look at his sixes, there appears to be one. If the opposing captain has provided him lambs to slaughter, it is not his fault.
Gayle has been feasting on all the sub-standard stuff the Indian bowlers have flung at him. He has attacked foreign bowlers who are rookies with the same gusto. Essentially, Gayle has not lost an opportunity to pick on a youngster, Indian and foreign, and cart him all over the park and even to the rooftops.
This is not to take away anything from the T20 batting sensation. Sure, he is capable of treating the best of bowlers with the same gay abandon. But stats show that Gayle has not taken, or even been allowed to, liberties with bowlers who have class and a reputation. In a tournament which huddles together the Matriculates and the Masters’ degree holders in the same classroom, this is bound to happen.
Kochi’s Prasanth Parameshwaran, the 2011 rookie, was hit for four sixes and three fours in a 7-ball over thanks to a no-ball. In 2012, Rahul Sharma of Deccan Chargers was flung for five huge sixes.
In 2013, on April 23, Pune Warrriors’ Ishwar Pandey, the 23-year-old MP bowler, who was making his IPL debut, was struck for five fours in his opening over. Mitchell Marsh, 21, also in his first IPL season, was plundered for four in his first over and then another.
Ali Murtaza, 23, had a season with Mumbai Indians and in his first game for Pune was carted over the fence five times, in instalments of two and three. Luke Wright, the Englishman is more of a batsman than a bowler, as is Aussie Aaron Finch. Both were clouted all over to make up a crowd-loving total of 17 sixes in an unbeaten knock of 175.
It is no secret that many of the bowlers who figure in the state teams do not possess international class and quality. Also, with young foreigners coming in with little experience, they get flogged similarly. If Gayle gets going initially, he is always been at his rampaging best.
Perhaps, opposing captains, coaches, analysts and mentors might well draw up a plan to ensure that their rookies are not thrown at Gayle in the beginning.
If the Dale Steyns or the Ashwins can get him early on, they might have a chance. “I think the crowd enjoyed the big sixes, I get cussed a lot when I don’t get them,” Gayle said once.
Sure, and so do the bowlers, especially the rookies, Indian and foreign.
Graphic updated till Thursday’s match
