Gayle insists he’ll carry on pounding bowlers

New Delhi – Veteran West Indies batsman Chris Gayle (right) is confident he will still be hitting sixes at the World Cup next year and insists his explosive style has changed the one-day game.

Gayle is a well-known one-day mercenary, appearing in T20 events around the world and has scored more than 3 000 runs in the Indian Premier League – including hundreds of boundaries. He hit 142 in a recent one-day international against Bangladesh in a series the West Indies lost 2-1.

The explosive left-hander will be 39 in September however and his often rocky relationship with the West Indies Cricket Board has led critics to predict the end of his international career. He disagrees.

“Leading up to the 2019 World Cup and playing in England, that is the objective,” Gayle told reporters in New Delhi yesterday.

Gayle equalled former Pakistan batsman Shahid Afridi’s record of 476 sixes in all formats during his 73-run knock in the third match against Bangladesh this week.

He also holds the T20 record of 18 sixes in an innings during a Bangladesh Premier League game last year and says his smash-theball style has changed the limited-overs game.

“I think you want to thank Mr Gayle for doing that. He is the man who made those things possible,” said Gayle.

But his run-scoring antics have not necessarily helped West Indies in recent times.

West Indies dominated world cricket in the 1970s and 80s but are now ranked seventh in T20s, ninth in ODI and eighth in Tests.

“Things won’t just happen overnight. Talent is there but consistency is not there. Players need to go out there and have the self-belief to win series and not just win a one-off game,” he said.

Gayle is tipping Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope to make an impact at the World Cup in England next year.

Gayle also hailed his former Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL team-mate Virat Kohli for his gritty 149 that lifted India against England in the first Test.

Kohli defied critics and dragged India from a precarious 100/5 to 274 in response to England’s 287 in the first innings.

“It was a fantastic innings and a captain’s knock. He converts a lot of those half-centuries into hundreds, which is very good,” said Gayle. – AFP