Chennai: The Zimbabweans may have come to realise that hell has no fury like a Chris Gayle scorned. His record breaking double hundred in the World Cup that makes him the first to join three Indians in the exclusive rarefied ‘200 in ODIs’ club may even be one for Twitter. The microblogging site might be modern man’s tribute to brevity, but its few words were enough to shake up a giant who may not have batted to his reputation in the last year and a half or so.
One offensive retweet by the president of the West Indies Cricket Board, which alluded to Gayle’s poor run of form and suggesting retirement for the big blaster, was sufficient to get the tongues wagging. And in the true style of the legends of the game, Gayle answered it in the best way possible – he let his bat do the talking.
In magnanimous style, he thanked his fans who had flooded twitter with good wishes in response to the swirling controversy. Gayle said "So many people wanted me to score runs. The messages kept coming in - on Twitter. It's the first time ever in my career that so many people wanted me to perform. I'm glad I gave them something to cheer about.
The WICB president, Dave Cameron, had been profusely apologetic about his faux pas in retweeting a Pakistani cricket fan’s negative tweet about Gayle after he had failed against them in the last match. "Can't buy a run. Let's give him a retirement package … Can't fail repeatedly and still front up based on reputation," the fan had tweeted and Cameron sent it on and stirred up the pot on the eve of the Zimbabwe game.
It would have been ironic had Panyangara been successful in his DRS review when he had Gayle virtually in front in the very first over in which he had also bowled Dwayne smith. The ball was clipping the bails and so the umpire Ian Gould’s decision of “not out” stayed.
“I said to myself it can’t be,” said Gayle referring to how close he was to being back in the hut. Naturally circumspect after the close shave, he bided his time before letting his big bat dominate the proceedings to such an extent he was only one six away from passing Rohit Sharma’s record of 16 sixes in an innings.
Now, Gayle and Virender Sehwag are the only ones on that 200-plus list with a triple hundred in Tests, a double hundred in ODIs and a hundred in T20. Such is the explosive power of the modern batsmen who have shown an ability to build long innings of plunder in any format.
As the hits kept sailing out of Manuka Oval, the Zimbabwean bowlers, who were at the receiving end of the biggest ever partnership in ODIs as Marlon Samuels joined Gayle in the first over, could only admire the strokes coming off what must seem to be the biggest bat in world cricket today.
In fact, so wide must ‘Big Bertha’ seem now that complaints have started trickling in about how the bats are getting meatier even if their basic dimensions of length and breadth cannot exceed what is stated in the laws of cricket – The overall length of the bat, when the lower portion of the handle is inserted, shall not be more than 38 inches (96.5 cms) and the width shall not exceed 4.25 inches (10.8 cms).
It is the improved technology of bat making plus the amount of meaty wood on the back of the sweet portions of the bat that is causing the whispers even as the bowlers see the ball clearing the ropes so often.
