West Indies veteran batsman Chris Gayle has given credit to Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo for return to form. Gayle scored a fine knock of 67 runs off just 38 balls in the third T20I against Australia at the Daren Sammy National cricket stadium, St Lucia, Antigua on Monday.
Thus, Gayle guided the Windes to a six-wicket win as the hosts chased down 142 runs inside the 15 overs and took an impregnable lead of 3-0 in the series. Furthermore, Gayle scored four fours and seven maximums to storm back into form. During his innings, the Universe Boss also became the first batsman to score 14000 T20 runs.
In fact, Gayle was not in the best of forms as he had scored his last T20I fifty back in 2016. However, both Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo had put their weight behind the experienced batsman.
“It’s a great journey. I’m so happy and so pleased to get a series win,” Gayle said after the win. “Congrats to the stand-in captain for achieving this against a great team. From a personal point of view, we all know that I was struggling, so it was pleasing to get runs.
I want to dedicate these runs to my teammates, especially Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo. To Kieron Pollard, he played a big part as well even though he played in none of these games. He stands (sic) tall for the person I am and what I’ve achieved.
He let me know where I stand within this team and he wanted me to go and express myself. So I’m very grateful for that pep talk because sometimes it doesn’t matter how great you are, you need a bit of a talk sometimes. That coming from Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo with big support in the media as well.
I have to commend those senior guys, they played a fantastic part in what happened today. With this strength and unity, we’re playing some great all-round cricket and I’m really pleased to win this series.
“I don’t mind the numbers, soon to be 42 so you all should be glad that Chris Gayle is still playing. My real target is the World Cup and hope I’ll last till then. They (Australia) lost a lot of players and are looking to rebuild. With the World Cup looming, this is a good test for them.”
Chris Gayle is regarded as one of the best T20 batsmen and he once again proved his worth.
The southpaw has all the experience under his belt and he is making the most of it. The left-hander has set his target on the T20 World Cup and he is going to hold the key for West Indies as he is an invaluable asset in the shortest format of the game.
The fourth T20I between West Indies and Australia will take place at the same venue of Daren Sammy National stadium at 5:00 AM IST, 15 July.
