Swashbuckling West Indian batsman Chris Gayle on February 24th, 2015 became the first player in the cricketing history to score a double hundred in World Cup. He achieved this feat against Zimbabwe where he scored 215 in 147 balls and also surpassed Gary Kirsten’s record of the highest score (188*) by an individual player in World Cup. With respect to this, there are a lot more things we should know about him. So, let us take a look at some of the interesting and unknown facts about Chris Gayle:
-> Chris Gayle started his cricket career with the well known Lucas Cricket Club in Kingston, Jamaica.
-> He made his first-class debut at the age of 19 for Jamaica.
-> Chris Gayle has three nicknames:
1. GayleStorm
2. GayleForce
3. Master Storm
-> In his early age, he suffered from an irregular heart-beat. When he had toured India as a youngster, he was forced to retire hurt due to this problem. After undergoing an operation, this disorder got corrected.
-> Chris Gayle once scored 196 in a Jamaica T20 trial match against an opposition containing Jerome Taylor, Marlon Samuels and Nikita Miller. He got out in the 15th over.
-> He is the 2nd West Indian (after Brian Lara) and the 4th overall to have scored two triple hundreds in Tests.
-> In 2005, he became the 1st player to score a triple hundred against South Africa.
-> While playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL, he scored a 30-ball hundred against Sahara Pune Warriors India, which is the fastest by any player across any format.
-> He scored 175 off just 66 balls against Sahara Pune Warriors India in the sixth edition of IPL in 2013 and recorded the highest individual T20 score surpassing Brendon McCullum’s 158* for KKR against RCB in the first edition of IPL in 2008.
-> In 2011 IPL auctions, no franchise bid for Chris Gayle in the first round. Later on, RCB signed him as the replacement of Dirk Nannes and he went on to become the highest run-scorer of the tournament.
-> He is the first player to hit 150 sixes in IPL.
-> In a Test against Bangladesh in 2012, Gayle became the first player to hit a six off the first ball of the Test match. Sohag Gazi was the bowler against whom Gayle hit that six.
-> In the first edition of the ICC World T20 2007, Gayle became the first player to score T20I hundred against South Africa at Johannesburg, thereby becoming the first cricketer to score a hundred in all three formats of the game.
