Twenty20 cricket’s biggest gun had to wait two-thirds of theway into the pool stage of the format’s world championship. Chris Gayle andWest Indies have had to wait until Match 8 of the 12-game pool stage to maketheir World Twenty20 debut, which will come against Australia in Colombo, SriLanka.
Four teams - SouthAfrica, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan had already played both their pool matches. Gayle, a Jamaicanleft-hander who shares the capacity of his compatriot Usain Bolt forinstantaneous transformation from laid-back cool into explosive action, doesnot see the disjointed schedule as helpful to his team’s chances. “You don’twant to wait around for too long before you play a game” he said.
The wait does, however, heighten anticipation. Gayle towersover cricket’s shortest form in a manner befitting his 1.91-meter, or 6-foot-3,frame. For the first time since its era of global domination in the 1970s and1980s, West Indies is being seriously talked of as a title contender. That isnot just because of Gayle. West Indies can call on other fearsome hitters, likeKieron Pollard, the astute all-round play of Dwayne Bravo and perhaps mostimportant of all, a match-winning spin bowler in Sunil Narine, one of theoutstanding performers of the 2012 IPL.
His form while out of the team explains why. Gayle traveledthe world as a hired gun available to teams in a range of national Twenty20championships. His eight scores of more than 100 in all Twenty20 are a recordfor a format in which high individual innings are a comparative rarity, sincean innings of 20 six-ball overs leaves so little time. A World Twenty20 title would seal hisascendancy over the short game. West Indies will hope he will repeat hisperformance from their clash in 2009 World Twenty20: A ferocious innings of 88,including some of the hardest, longest hits ever seen on London’s venerableOval ground, turned a tight contest into a rout. Innings like that have madehim the most eagerly awaited participant in the 2012 tournament, the biggestnoise in the newest and loudest form of the game.
