Day 11: Intercontinental Ballistic West Indian
Chris Gayle produced arguably his best innings ever.
OH great, so Zimbabwe has awakened the Sleeping Giant.
Really, could one of the frontline bowlers not have snapped him out for a single digit score.
Or even a part-timer. Anyone.
Now, thanks to Chris Gayle’s breathtaking 215 to set up a comfortable win, South Africa faces the prospect of a very confident West Indies team come Friday.
For the record, Gayle started slowly. It was only towards the latter part of the inning that he unleashed.
There is a lesson to be learnt there.
Anyway, Gayle caressed 16 sixes, equalling AB de Villiers and Rohit Sharma. It never looks like he is whacking them hard. Pure timing, perfect balance.
And then an astonishing admission: Gayle admitted he was under pressure. Gayle and pressure in the same sentence?
The big guy does care, even if he limits his fielding appearances to an absolute minimum.
It was the first World Cup double ton and the fifth overall, with the other belonging to Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma (2).
In the end the Windies scored 372/2 with Gayle out last ball.
Zimbabwe put up a fight, but fell 73 runs short (D/L).
It sets up Pool B rather nicely, with no team guaranteed anything, except possibly UAE, an early flight home.
