Chris Gayle

A thrusting Jamaican left-hander, Gayle earned himself a black mark on his first senior tour - to England in 2000 - where the new boys were felt to be insufficiently respectful of their elders. But a lack of respect, for opposition bowlers at least, has served Gayle well since then. Tall and imposing at the crease, he loves to carve through the covers off either foot, and has the ability to decimate the figures of even the thriftiest of opening bowlers. And in this era of Twenty20 cricket, Gayle is the batsman who has thrived like no other.

Among his many strengths, perhaps the biggest one is his outstanding hand-eye coordination, which allows Gayle to regularly hit even good-length deliveries for boundaries. Technique and footwork aren't his greatest assets, but most often he compensates with other skills. No batsman has taken to the 20-over format like he has. He showed early signs of his liking for that format by smashing the first century in Twenty20 internationals - a 57-ball 117 against South Africa in the World Twenty20 in 2007 - and when Twenty20 leagues mushroomed the world over and sought international stars, Gayle was the biggest beneficiary. Over two seasons - 2011 and 2012 - of the IPL, he became easily the most feared batsman of the league, smashing three centuries leading the run charts in both seasons. And his spat with the West Indies board means he is also a Twenty20 regular in various leagues around the world, entertaining crowds in Australia, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

Gayle's free-stroking, aggressive style is obviously best suited for limited-overs cricket, but that doesn't mean he hasn't cut it as a Test batsman. When he has turned up for West Indies, his pugnacious approach has become an attacking weapon in its own right, in what's been a lean era for West Indian cricket. His 79-ball century at Cape Town in January 2004, on the back of a South African first innings of 532, was typical of his no-holds-barred approach. However, Gayle has also shown the ability to bat long periods and the hunger to make big scores. In 2009 against Australia, Gayle batted almost seven-and-a-half hours in scoring an unbeaten 165 to save the Test in Adelaide; in the very next game, though, he smashed the fifth-fastest Test century - off 70 balls - to indicate that quick-scoring remained his preferred method. Next year he batted almost ten hours and scored 333 against Sri Lanka and Muralitharan in Galle, becoming only the fourth batsman to score two triples in Tests, thus proving again his ability to bat long periods.

And then there is also his brisk non-turning offspin, with which he has turned himself into a genuine allrounder in limited-overs cricket. His tendency to stay aloof on the field sometimes suggests he isn't interested in the proceedings, but his relaxed approached was good for the team whenever he led West Indies. However, West Indies have missed his services far too often due his differences with their board. After a long spell out from international cricket he returned strongly in 2012 on the tour of England and subsequently at home against New Zealand.

Full name Christopher Henry Gayle

Born September 21, 1979, Kingston, Jamaica

Current age 33 years 57 days

Major teams West Indies, Barisal Burners, ICC World XI,Jamaica, Kolkata Knight Riders, Matabeleland Tuskers,Royal Challengers Bangalore, Stanford Superstars,Sydney Thunder, Western Australia, Worcestershire

Playing role Allrounder

Batting style Left-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm offbreak

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	94	165	7	6646	333	42.06	11141	59.65	14	34	964	85	88	0
ODIs	234	229	17	8360	153*	39.43	9899	84.45	20	45	965	189	103	0
T20Is	30	29	3	979	117	37.65	674	145.25	1	10	86	59	9	0
First-class	169	300	22	12567	333	45.20			31	60			147	0
List A	301	295	24	10833	153*	39.97			23	61			129	0
Twenty20	117	114	16	4332	128*	44.20	2793	155.10	8	31	344	306	31	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	94	100	6875	3009	72	5/34	6/81	41.79	2.62	95.4	2	2	0
ODIs	234	180	6936	5473	156	5/46	5/46	35.08	4.73	44.4	3	1	0
T20Is	30	20	271	333	15	2/15	2/15	22.20	7.37	18.0	0	0	0
First-class	169		12265	5080	131	5/34		38.77	2.48	93.6		2	0
List A	301		9080	6846	215	5/46	5/46	31.84	4.52	42.2	4	1	0
Twenty20	117	86	1365	1752	51	4/22	4/22	34.35	7.70	26.7	1	0	0

Career statistics

Test debut	West Indies v Zimbabwe at Port of Spain, Mar 16-20, 2000
Last Test	Bangladesh v West Indies at Dhaka, Nov 13-17, 2012 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut	India v West Indies at Toronto, Sep 11, 1999 scorecard
Last ODI	West Indies v New Zealand at Basseterre, Jul 16, 2012 scorecard
ODI statistics
T20I debut	New Zealand v West Indies at Auckland, Feb 16, 2006 scorecard
Last T20I	Sri Lanka v West Indies at Colombo (RPS), Oct 7, 2012 scorecard
T20I statistics
First-class debut	1998/99
Last First-class	Bangladesh v West Indies at Dhaka, Nov 13-17, 2012 scorecard
List A debut	1998/99
Last List A	West Indies v New Zealand at Basseterre, Jul 16, 2012 scorecard
Twenty20 debut	Chilaw Marians Cricket Club v PCA Masters XI at Leicester, Sep 15, 2005scorecard
Last Twenty20	Sri Lanka v West Indies at Colombo (RPS), Oct 7, 2012 scorecard

Recent matches

Bat & Bowl	Team	Opposition	Ground	Match Date	Scorecard
24, 0/14, 19	West Indies	v Bangladesh	Dhaka	13 Nov 2012	Test # 2057
3, 0/14	West Indies	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (RPS)	7 Oct 2012	T20I # 289
75*	West Indies	v Australia	Colombo (RPS)	5 Oct 2012	T20I # 288
30, 0/15	West Indies	v New Zealand	Pallekele	1 Oct 2012	T20I # 283
2, 0/2	West Indies	v Sri Lanka	Pallekele	29 Sep 2012	T20I # 280
58, 1/27	West Indies	v England	Pallekele	27 Sep 2012	T20I # 276
2/21	West Indies	v Ireland	Colombo (RPS)	24 Sep 2012	T20I # 273
54	West Indies	v Australia	Colombo (RPS)	22 Sep 2012	T20I # 270
65*	West Indies	v Afghanistan	Colombo (PSS)	17 Sep 2012	Other T20
8, 8	West Indies	v New Zealand	Kingston	2 Aug 2012	Test # 2052