Chris Gayle - welcome back to Test Cricket

Chris Gayle in comeback match

If there was one man who was in pseudo hibernation in the world cricket fraternity it was Christopher Henry Gayle of West Indies. I say it as pseudo hibernation because he has been playing cricket all around the world except for his own country due to reasons which we don’t want to debate upon at present as he is back in his countries jersey.

Called back into the West Indian team after about more than a year, for the England tour of the Windies, he was at his best right from the word “go” notching up consistent scores in every other innings since his arrival into the international stage .

After scoring well in his first ODI (53 against England) and T20 (85 against New Zealand) it was time for his big score in his first Test as well and he delivered exactly that with a well built 150 off 206 balls against New Zealand at Antigua. It was a perfect comeback innings which he and his team would have wanted.

Coming into bat after New Zealand posted 351 on board, he was in murderous mood right from the start of the innings as he took Chris Martin to cleaners in the very first over of the match as he thrashed him for four consecutive boundaries and from then on it was no looking back as he effortlessly got the runs throughout the innings and made New Zealand pay for dropping him twice.

He along with Powell laid a perfect foundation for the West Indies with a huge 250 plus opening stand and put their team in a strong position to bat the opposition out of the match. Powell in the process also got his first test century.

Gayle, the senior pro, returning to the West indies fold will certainly do better to their team’s not so good fortunes. West Indies have been relying on the only senior guy in the team, Chanderpaul, for most of the times but now with Gayle’s addition the team will look forward to do better in the present series and also in the tours ahead which includes the World T20 as well, the tournament in which West Indies are tipped to be the favorites.

Finally. Gayle’s return is not just a happy sign for West indies fans but also for the cricket fans around the world as he is a player to watch out for in every format especially T20′s.