Chris Gayle....

Christopher Henry "Chris" Gayle is a Jamaican cricketer who plays international cricket for the West Indies. He captained the West Indies' Test side from 2007 to 2010. He plays domestic cricket for Jamaica, and also represents the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League and the Barisal Burners in the Bangladesh Premier League. He has also represented Worcestershire, the Western Warriors and the Kolkata Knight Riders in his career.

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.

However, generally speaking he had a slow start to his international career, but invigorated it in 2002, ending the year with three centuries against India in November and becoming the third West Indian to score 1,000 runs in a calendar year, along with Vivian Richards and Brian Lara. He is one of only six players in One Day International history to have three or more scores of 150. In 2005, Gayle was dropped for the first Test against South Africa along with six other players following a dispute over sponsorship issues (see below). He returned for the second test but had a poor series until the fourth Test, where he made a match-saving 317. It was the first ever triple century against South Africa and up until Mahela Jayawardene made 374, it was the highest individual Test score against them.

He was also selected for team Uva Next for inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League in 2012 but his participation is in doubt after he sustained a groin injury during the West Indies’ second Test win over New Zealand in Kingston.

He is one of only four players who have scored two triple centuries at Test level: 317 against South Africa in 2005, and 333 against Sri Lanka in 2010.