Blogs: Jon Hotten: Chris Gayle is alive and great | Cricket Blogs | ESPN Cricinfo
What are your views on this article ?
What are your views on this article ?
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Is Chris Gayle great ?
- Thread starter Ilovecric
- Start date
Well the article argues he is not a conventional great and obviously this is looking beyond T20. But in terms of power hitting and being an excellent test opener while maintaining his revolutionary short format scoring should put him in a unique place. I think his exploits in T20 certainly garnered more interest in the format. I remember his first IPL - came in late but ended up with the most sixes and runs in the tournament.
How many more would he need to play to be considered a great ? Name current players who has or is doing what he's doing better.
cnerd123
likes this
Read someone somewhere describe KP as not a great player, but a player of great innings.
Gayle kinda fits that bracket too, as do several other players.
I suppose it's the values of consistent excellent and performance that makes a player great, and not just flashes of brilliance and a handful of broken records.
I think people should keep in mind this view is not radical as cricket fans support this view BBC Sport - Tendulkar, Gilchrist, Gayle & Wasim all in greatest ODI XI
There is nobody in the international game who is as consistent as he in in terms of attacking and capable of attacking the way he does. Guys like Dhoni will have higher averages because they bat the end of the innings which means more NOs.
In T20 He hits a six every 9 balls and four every 8 balls while entertaining players like AB takes 20 to hit a six and 9 to hit fours. He hits big shots while averaging twice as much as AB. This is why he is better to watch because the show is more exciting and last much longer.
There is nobody in the international game who is as consistent as he in in terms of attacking and capable of attacking the way he does. Guys like Dhoni will have higher averages because they bat the end of the innings which means more NOs.
In T20 He hits a six every 9 balls and four every 8 balls while entertaining players like AB takes 20 to hit a six and 9 to hit fours. He hits big shots while averaging twice as much as AB. This is why he is better to watch because the show is more exciting and last much longer.
flibbertyjibber
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Capable of some great innings but not a great.
Riggins
International Captain
It doesn't matter how many 'great' knocks he plays sporadically. To be genuinely considered a 'great' player he should be putting up 'good' performances much more frequently, imo.
name a great t20 player
Who would accuse gayle of being a great test player ? And his ODi record is right up there with the rest of them. He wasn't get much runs recently but he is certainly a great ODI player. I think the issue with some people was expressed in the article - that gayle is a transformation force in the game. Because while you're thinking about test match consistency (Gayle averages 42 btw as an opener) the game is expanding towards another direction and gayle is spearheading this move - being a free lancer and setting a high bar to reach for future T20 greats.
Red
The normal awards that everyone else has
He's a great ODI and T20 player. Completely destructive batsman and pretty handy bowling option.
As a test player he's not a "great", but he's been a pretty decent test cricketer over a lot of tests. It's pretty simplistic to say, but anyone who plays over 100 tests and averages over 40 batting in the top order is pretty damn good imo.
As a test player he's not a "great", but he's been a pretty decent test cricketer over a lot of tests. It's pretty simplistic to say, but anyone who plays over 100 tests and averages over 40 batting in the top order is pretty damn good imo.
G.I.Joe
International Coach
I was thinking of making this point with Laxman as an example, but decided that it wasn't apt here because Laxman didn't spend the intervals between great innings being complete ****house. Ended up pin pointing to myself why I don't intuitively consider Gayle a great.
JBMAC
State Captain
Agree T20 is NOT cricket