‘Bowlers are scared before bowling to Chris Gayle’
MUMBAI: The beard’s salt and pepper, the hair’s braided and long. Chris Gayle is 41 and looks it. What’s unchanged is his penchant for six hitting. He hit two of them, including the longest of the match against Mumbai Indians on Friday to guide Punjab Kings to a nine-wicket win. Run scoring has been hard work this IPL and Gayle too has had to change his game. But on the brands pitch he continues to score fast adding 10Cric, an online gaming platform to his long list of endorsements.
Not lacking in ambition, Gayle is determined to become the oldest man to win a hattrick of T20 World Cup titles. He also wants to better his IPL showing from last year. In this interview, the man with the most sixes in the T20 game speaks unabashedly of terrifying bowlers with power hitting. Excerpts.
You have said in the past that you started as a timer of the ball and went on to be an explosive hitter. When did it begin to change?
As a youngster I didn’t have that muscle. In your cricket career, as years go by, there are different things put in front of you – like gym work. And then you become a bit more muscular, you put on a bit more muscle, you become stronger. But it is not really necessarily about muscles, you see some smaller guys hitting some big balls. It goes to show that the most important thing is to time the ball well and execute the shot. But yes, I am known for being the “Six Machine”. No one can take that away from me. It’s something natural I’ve developed over the years.
Is there a trigger that gets you going? Is it when you start picking up the right lengths of a bowler or is it that one big hit that frees you?
It can be both, you know. The first boundary can give you a bit of a momentum. You get a loose one from a particular bowler that can give you a momentum as well. Sometimes you get a bouncer or a short ball that is kind of weak that can put you in a more energetic mood. So, those little things can wake you up; it depends on the game situation to get you pumped up and ready to go.
When you are going for big runs, do you feel that the bowlers are intimidated by you?
Bowlers are always intimidated, from the night or even the week before when they know they’ll be up against Chris Gayle! That’s the fear I strike into them. If a bowler comes and says that I’m lying it’s actually them who lie! Trust me! It happens over and over – sleepless nights, team meetings when they discuss just one person for two hours! That’s the impact I have on the game, so you do the math.
Does sending the ball further back into the stands give you a bigger high to face the next ball?
Absolutely. But sometimes it gets you in trouble. You hit one for six and you want to hit the remainder for six as well but you just have to work the game out. What actually gives you a drive is the atmosphere. When you have the fans and you hear the chant, they’re shouting, especially here in India, when they say: ‘We want the six’ and I give them that six. They want more and you want to give them more. That’s the sweetest feeling! I miss the fans a lot, seriously!
How satisfying was it to get runs in the last IPL; the 99 you got after you were benched for the first half of the tournament?
It was very good. Sometimes people tend to write you off, without giving you a chance to express yourself, looking at your age. To be able to get runs, it’s fantastic. It opened people’s eyes. It’s like I said: ‘Hey, never give up on someone, believe in that person and let them express themselves, let them be who they are!’ Experience is a huge thing, especially in a tournament like the IPL. And as I said, I want to better my performance this year.
How keen are you to win the upcoming T20 World Cup for West Indies? What would it mean to you if you managed it at this stage of your career?
It will mean a lot to me. Maybe I’ll be the first person over 40 to win the World Cup three times. It will be a triple for me – something huge and fantastic. To lift the World Cup, we’ll give (it) our best shot. We have the players to do that. It’s going to be in India as well. It’s something we’re all looking forward to and are very excited about. To make history again – it will be fantastic.