Former West Indies swashbuckling batter Chris Gayle is regarded as one of the best T20 batters. Gayle was known for taking the opposition’s attack to the cleaners with his blistering batting. However, Gayle named Sri Lanka’s gun fast bowler Lasith Malinga as the toughest bowler he faced in T20 cricket.
Gayle admitted it was difficult to pick Malinga because of his slingy action. Malinga had a superb yorker in his arsenal and also had a very deceptive slower one, which was never easy to pick.
“At the time it was Malinga, with his action at the time, you know. I mean, he didn’t get me out, but it was very difficult to face Malinga with that action. I just couldn’t position myself in a particular way to hit him,” Gayle said in an interview with Midwicket Stories.
The former left-hander, who became the first batter to score 10000 runs in T20 cricket, added he adopted a defensive mindset against Malinga.
“So I was like, listen, I’m trying to survive, right? I just try to look to block him, unusual stuff for the Universe Boss, but I try to look to block or get off strike and then take on the other bowlers, just try and play it a bit smart, on the safer side of things if I cannot pick a bowler,” Gayle said.
Gayle accumulated 4,965 runs in the Indian Premier League and struck 357 sixes in the tournament, which is the most for any batter in the competition.
On the other hand, Malinga scalped 170 wickets in the IPL in 122 games whereas he bagged 107 wickets in T20I format in 84 games
