Tuesday 9 April 2013

Gayle forces

         
  Chasing 20 and facing a flat-out, pumped-up Dale Steyn, Gayle was required to hit the last two balls of the game for six. He dispatched the first before knocking the second disconsolately to long-off, foxed by Steyn's shorter length. The point was not that Gayle had failed, but rather that no one would have been surprised if he had succeeded. At the crease, he trails a new sense of the possible behind him. If not Twenty20's Bradman, then he is its WG, its Ranji. In its infant years, he is a conceptual force.Chris Gayle has presented an almost completely realised vision of the future of Twenty20 batsmanship. On Sunday he offered another shimmering insight into what is to come during the Super Over finish between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Hyderabad Sunrisers.One in every nine deliveries that Gayle has faced in T20 cricket has been hit for six, and it is a ratio that is rising towards one in eight. Around that glowing headline stat, he has constructed a method of batting which has produced an unmatched consistency through its counter-intuitive lack of risk. With it, he is separating himself from the rest.

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