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MUMBAI, Chris Gayle smashed the first hundred of the sixth World T20 to underline his reputation as cricket’s most destructive batsman and powered West Indies to a six-wicket win over England in their Super 10 match on Wednesday.
The tall left-handed opener, who often polarises opinions with his antics off the field, made mockery of a seemingly steep 183-run target in the Group 1 match, carrying West Indies to victory with 11 balls to spare on a hot and humid evening at the Wankhede Stadium. Gayle’s century was his second in the format and he remained unbeaten on 100 off 48 balls with his innings studded with 11 sixes and five fours. Marlon Samuels (37) took the early lead of smashing the England bowling while Gayle took his time to settle down and the pair added 55 for the second wicket to lay down the foundation for a West Indies victory.
It was the sparse crowd at the stadium overlooking the Arabian Sea who were at risk once Gayle decided to open his arms and swat away everything that was in his zone over the boundary.
Both England spinners Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali were at the receiving end of Gayle’s blitzkreig with the latter suffering the ignominy of being hit for three consecutive sixes in an over in which he gave away 22 runs. Denesh Ramdin and Dwayne Bravo threw away their wickets in a brief period of worry for West Indies but England captain Eoin Morgan and his teammates could do little to stop the 36-year-old Gayle take apart their bowling.
Earlier, a measured 48 from Joe Root helped England to 182-6 after West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl on a green-tinged wicket.
