Former West Indies batter Chris Gayle is a bonafide legend of the game. Gayle may have lacked consistency in ODIs and Tests, however, he is as he says ‘Universe Boss’ in T20 cricket and his records speak for themselves. With 14,562 runs in the format and 22 centuries to his name in 462 matches, Gayle has been the genuine globetrotting legend of the format. Apart from several other achievements in the format, Gayle holds the world record of the highest individual score in the format, 175* (66) when he destroyed the Pune Warriors India attack in the 2013 edition of the IPL.
The likes of Aaron Finch (172), Hamilton Masakadza (162*), Brendon McCullum (158*) and recently Dewald Brevis (162) have come close, but none of the big hitters around the world has been able to breach the record. Many have tipped the likes of Jos Buttler and Suryakumar Yadav to break that, however, Gayle is at the top, at least for now.
In an interaction with JioCinema on ‘Legend Speak’, Gayle picked a star batter, who could break his record. Gayle caught everyone by surprise as he named KL Rahul. Gayle, who has played alongside Rahul in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Punjab Kings, said that Rahul has the ability to do so and if he gets a big hundred, he could achieve the feat as he is really dangerous when he gets into the death overs.
“For one I think KL Rahul! On his day, he can do it. I don’t think he believes in his ability to get that big score but listen to me, we all have seen KL Rahul on the go and if he decided to bat like that sometimes, if not most times which I’d love to see, he definitely can get that. Because when he gets from 15th to the 20th [over], he is very dangerous down there at the death as well, batting-wise. If he gets a good start and gets a big hundred he can definitely get past 175,” Gayle said.
Gayle said that the records are meant to be broken and it will happen eventually. When will it happen? No one knows, but Gayle assured that the record is there for the taking and that someone like Rahul — who has the highest score for an Indian batter in the IPL (132*) against his former franchise RCB, playing for the then Kings XI Punjab in 2020 — can achieve that huge milestone.
