Chris Gayle on his birthday
Chris Gayle shares six-hitting secrets on his birthday
Hard-hitting West Indies opener Chris Gayle celebrated his 33rd birthday on Friday by telling batsmen how to hit sixes during the ongoing World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. "It takes a bit of strength and once the ball is in your slot you go for it," Gayle said ahead of the West Indies' first match against Australia in Colombo on Saturday.
"It's instinct to be honest. You have to let the mind and body flow
together. You don't want to get stuck in a two-minded situation."You just try and be natural out there and things will actually flow
for you in the end," Gayle was quoted as saying by the West Indies
Cricket Board in a statement.
Left-handed Gayle, whose 27 sixes are a tournament record in the World
Twenty20, is one of the most feared batsmen in all formats of the game
with a penchant for big hits against both pace and spin. His rapid-fire
117 off 57 balls with 10 sixes and seven fours against South Africa in
the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 remains the highest individual
score in the competition.
"The key is balance. You have to have good balance to be able to hit a
lot of sixes," said the Jamaican, who also has two triple-centuries in
Test cricket to his credit. "I pay special emphasis to my balance. You have to realise that
bowlers are not always going to make it easy for you. You have to create
the shots, so you have to make sure you do it well."
Gayle said he looked forward to playing against Australia, who
thrashed Ireland by seven wickets in their first game on Wednesday. "The
first game is vital," he said."You don't want to play catch-up cricket in T20, so it's a very big match for us. It will also get our confidence going.
"In our team we bat right down, and bowling-wise we have spinners and
fast bowlers. The key for us is to get to the second round and try and
take it step by step."
0 comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Post a Comment