Do we regard Chris Gayle enough

When our mind gets conditioned to a certain level of comfort, it doesn’t leave it quite easily. You might try and break the pattern but the figurative imbalance that had already been created in mind would take some time to settle down. Take any common app update for example - it takes days to condition our head for the new addition but once it does, going back to the past seems an eerily different feeling. And exactly like that, our memory of Christopher Henry Gayle, one of the unquestioned legends of the sport, is one such weird thing. It has changed with the latest update, with the memories of slow and boisterous times seeming to be left behind in the distant outreach of our brain.

While Gayle’s free-flowing style was a peep into the future, it never felt anachronistic at a time when the game was going through radical changes. Rather it was a moment of applause when Gayle tore apart the South African bowling attack in 2004 for a 79-ball century in Cape Town after the hosts put up a humongous 532 in the first innings. He was ready to show the world that he was incredibly self-aware and could bring thrill when none else can. 

Five years later, the ultimate rear-guard innings took shape: in Adelaide, he batted inch by bloody inch for almost seven-and-a-half hours to score an unbeaten 165 to save the Test, after which he smashed the fifth-fastest Test century - off 70 balls - in the next match to showcase his varied ability. Should I now talk about that one inning of pure determination - defying Muttiah Muralitharan at Galle, to score a defining 333 in a Test match? C’mon Chris Gayle, you are more than a solid Test opener.

In ODIs too, he had a fantabulous sum of 10,480 runs to his name and we know anyone who is beyond that mark is a defining figure standing tall to be celebrated. But do we do that enough? Do we acknowledge the fact that Gayle had represented five World Cups so far - just one less than Sachin Tendulkar? If longevity is one of the markers of legacy, why do we stay behind and not celebrate Chris Gayle the ODI player as much as should? Yuvraj Singh, who played three more ODIs than Gayle, scored 1,779 runs less than the Jamaican and with a lesser average too. And we all know how much Yuvraj Singh is celebrated for his ODI exploits. So, can we not extend the same courtesy to the big fella from the reef-lined beaches of North America?

When we sit down and recount the legacy of Chris Gayle, the first thing that strikes our head is those effortless sixes to all corners of the ground, with shirts of various shades on. That memory is so huge that our recency bias doesn’t let us examine the other aspects of a career that not only promised a lot but actually delivered on it. With that context alone, it will be extremely difficult for Gen Y to understand the real and wholesome genius of Chris Gayle, which has now become inexplicable because of its very existence in a vacuum. Christopher Henry Gayle is bigger than the sum of his parts and sadly, only a few know the full story.