CANBERRA, Australia, CMC-Chris Gayle says he was bombarded with an unprecedented amount of pressure from fans before his multiple record breaking performance against Zimbabwe in the ICC Cricket World yesterday.
Gayle smashed the first double century in the tournament and fastest ever in one-dayers, and shared a record breaking stand with Marlon Samuels at the Manuka Oval in Canberra.
His effort fired West Indies to a 73 run win over Zimbabwe to post their second wining in the tournament.
“It’s been a lot of pressure, and the runs haven’t been coming. I kept getting messages on my phone, as well as on my Twitter,” said Gayle, during the postgame news conference.
“I have never felt this kind of pressure, and this is the first time I have seen so many people want me to score runs, and I am happy I gave them something to cheer about”.
Gayle smashed 215 runs off 147 balls during his whirlwind stay at the crease, forming a 372-run stand with Samuels, who scored 133 runs off 156 balls.
The partnership is now the highest stand in One-Day International (ODI) history, breaking the 331-run stand previously held by Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
Gayle’s knock was also the third-highest innings score in ODI history.
“Eventually we knew we had to attack because we didn’t want to put ourselves under too much pressure. That was my game plan to try and push them back as far as possible. Eventually it worked,” said Gayle.
“I hope it’s the start of a new beginning and I will try and build on this as much as possible”.
West Indies are now on four points from two victories and will next play South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Friday.
“I am quite happy to have gotten this hundred, and this will give the team some momentum ahead of the match against South Africa, which is an important one”, said Gayle.
