Full name         : Christopher Henry Gayle

 Born                 : 21 September, 1979, Kingston, Jamaica

 Current age     : 27 years  

 Major teams    : West Indies, ICC World XI, Jamaica, Worcestershire

 Nick Name       : Chris

 Batting style    : Left-hand bat
 
 Bowling style   : Right-arm offbreak





Christopher Henry Gayle is a West Indian cricketer. He is of strapping frame with a bleach-white smile that belies a tendency to flay opposition bowling to all parts of the ground. Moreover, his lusty hitting through point, coupled with a Jamaican swagger unseen since Michael Holding prowled the streets of Kingston, make him a fierce proposition in the modern game.

Gayle played for the West Indies at youth international level after he made his first-class debut aged 19 for Jamaica. He played his first one-day international 11 months later, and his first Test match 6 months after that.


Chris Gayle is easily one of the most destructive batsmen around and is an exciting prospect for West Indies' plans of regaining its former glory. Chris Gayle likes to play his natural game, irrespective of the position of his team. His 79-ball century in Cape Town in 2004, came while chasing South African first inning total of 532. Chris Gayle's best innings till date came against the South Africans in 2005, when he blasted the South African attack to score a match saving 317 runs. Chris Gayle is also an occasional off spinner and has helped West Indies by breaking important partnerships.




Gayle was named Player of the 2006 Champions Trophy, where West Indies nearly defended their title won in 2004, only to be defeated in the final by the No. 1 ranked team in the world Australia. Gayle scored three centuries and totalled 474 runs, 150 more than any other batsman, and also took eight wickets in as many matches.

Gayle is regarded as a calm and cool cricketer, but in October 2006, in his side's first match of the Champions Trophy, he was involved in a controversy with the Australian batsman Michael Clarke. While Clarke was batting, Gayle was observed to repeatedly come to Clarke and say something, more than once in the space of a few overs. He was fined 30% of his match fee for this. Gayle, writing in an Internet column, remarked that he believed the "instigator" should also be punished in such cases.