Chris Gayle: Much more than a T20 player as he celebrates his 100th Test

Chris Gayle

"Twenty20 has come onboard and it's made a huge impact on the world, it's brilliant, games have been sold out and it has taken the place by storm. I look at Test cricket differently, I don't see it as long term for me, just for me, I'm just speaking about myself." - Chris Gayle (2009)

Times back then were different and difficult. The team was not paid for 3 consecutive tours and it had stirred a hefty unrest amongst the players. Gayle amongst others was not happy with his situation and T20 leagues like the IPL were the only saving grace financially for the tall West Indian all-rounder. Those were testing times.

It’s 2014 and here we are celebrating Gayle’s 100th Test match against the Kiwis at his home turf in Sabina Park as I am writing this piece.

How the times change!

After a career spinning over 15 years of controversies and numerous rifts with the Caribbean cricket board, he is about to touch two significant milestones.

He is not only playing his 100th Test match currently, but will also have a chance to complete 7000 test runs, being just 67 runs away from the big mark. To achieve them both at his home ground, can anything be sweeter for him?

Speaking before the match, Gayle said: “This is a huge milestone, this is very special and something I'm really looking forward to. It all started in Rollington Town - I used to play cricket on the street then I moved to Lucas Cricket Club and here I am today about to play my 100th Test match for the West Indies.”

Yes, it is a huge feat.

Let’s look at the names who have played more than 100 Tests for West Indies: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Courtney Walsh, Brian Lara, Sir Vivian Richards, Desmond Haynes, Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge and Carl Hooper.

Only 7 Caribbean batsmen before him have crossed the 7000 run mark, top three names being Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Sir Vivian Richards. It speaks for the volume of talent he possesses and the legacy he has garnered over the years.

Over the last 5-6 years, people have written him off as a T20 player, who knows only to hit the ball hard. These people often tend to forget that T20 didn’t exist when Gayle started to play in 1999. It was not there in 2004 when he returned triumphantly after a career threatening injury with a jubilant century in the adverse conditions of Cape Town against South Africa.

They forget the 2 triple centuries he made wearing the Caribbean cap in a 5-day game. Any ordinary T20 player doesn’t possess the temperament to do that.

Gayle wasn’t always around to play Tests for his country, especially over the last few years, when rift with the home board had coincided with greater T20 opportunities elsewhere and resulted in changed priorities.

He has a hard-hitting batting style that suits the fun-filled and sell-out T20 format too, but that doesn’t make him a one dimensional player. He has stayed long enough, proved more than once that he is one of the best southpaws that the Caribbean has ever produced.

To grasp my point, have a look at this record. Chris Gayle is only behind Brian Lara and Gary Sobers with the most number of 150+ scores in Tests for West Indies.

The naysayers have found solid reasons for their cause too. He has missed over 42 Test matches in the last 7 years due to various reasons, drifting him towards the shorter version of the game. Gayle, much like Virender Sehwag has a penchant to play long Test knocks and both are still often forgotten when the greatest Test players are listed.

He is perhaps the only player to score 11 T20 centuries in multiple leagues. Yes, he might be the greatest T20 player to have stepped foot onto the pitch, but his 15 test tons are no flukes either. His average of 42 after playing 99 Test matches all across the globe puts him ahead of many Test greats. His highest score of 333 puts him parallel to the likes of Mathew Hayden.

He has scored tons of runs in all parts of the world including India, Sri Lanka, England and Australia.

When he returned from his exile of year and a half in 2012, Sabina Park saw numbers like never before. He was unanimously supported by the fans for his decision to lock horns with the board and it earned him even more respect. He had become a phenomenon, a man who fears none when it comes to justice. Yet, he was humble and ready for a comeback.

He stood silent like a mountain and returned with his pride intact. The board realised that they needed Gayle at the top level and sacking him for meagre money issues was imprudent on their part.

It won’t be wrong to say that after Brian Lara retired, Chris Gayle has been the face of West Indies cricket. To imagine West Indies cricket without Gayle or to imagine world cricket in the 21st century without Gayle seems impractical.

This legacy wasn’t built just by playing T20 matches in various leagues. Gayle has always been more than that. Hundred Test matches are a testament of that. And if one believes that cricket is a game of records, then this is a testament of his legendary Test career.

When the history books of cricket shall be updated, Christopher Henry Gayle shall be an integral part of it. Not only as the greatest T20 hitter of his time, but as Chris Gayle, one of the better Test cricketers of all-time.