CHRISTOPHER Henry Gayle had looked a shadow of himself in West Indies Twenty20 colours since his return for the series against Sr Lanka in March of this year.
In nine innings, he averaged 12.75 and had the best score of 32* in his new role at number three, but on Monday evening against Australia, the ‘Universe Boss’ was back to bossing bowlers.
He blazed to a matching and series-winning 67 off 38 balls, hammering seven maximums and four fours to give West Indies an unassailable lead in the five-match series in St Lucia.
Everything looked different with Gayle. He used the crease to the spinners and was lethal to anything fractionally short by the faster men.
He actually entered the crease the fourth ball in the chase of 142, after Andre Fletcher was dismissed, and in the next over, he smashed Josh Hazelwood for 18 (6,4, 4,4).
It was the catapult and freedom he needed to rediscover the ‘Dark and Stormy’ character and West Indies reached their target in 14.5 overs.

With two more matches this series and five more against Pakistan, along with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and the second half of the Indian Premier League, (IPL) the 41-year-old and two-time World T20 winner, has set his sights on attending this year’s World T20 to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from October 17 – November 14.
“My main focus is the World Cup,” he said at Monday’s post-match.
“Don’t mind the numbers, Chris Gayle not getting the runs, soon to be 42. You guys should be happy to see Chris Gayle on the field, still, hopefully, Chris will last as long as possible.
“Cherish those moments; commentators, don’t put up stats about Chris Gayle not scoring a half-century. Just respect the Universe Boss, let him play cricket, and have some fun. Enjoy the moment with Chris Gayle, a strong West Indies team and some good youngsters.”
The powerful left-hander who has now 14 038 T20 runs, scored his 14th T20I half-century, and it was his first Twenty20 International half-century since 2016 and the first score of 50 or more since 100* against England at the World T20 in 2016.
“From a personal point of view, we all knew I was struggling with the bat and to be able to get some runs today is very pleasing but what

was pleasing about getting these runs tonight was my teammates, especially (captain) Kieron Pollard.
According to Gayle, there was a team meeting prior to the match, and Pollard “stand tall” and told Gayle where he stood in the team and wanted him to go and express himself.
“So, I’m very grateful for that pep talk because sometimes it doesn’t matter how great you are, you need a bit of a talk sometimes. I have to commend those senior guys; they played a fantastic part in what happened today. With this strength and unity, we’re playing some great all-around cricket and I’m really pleased to win this series.”
The former captain added, “Looking back when I got back into the West Indies team versus Sri Lanka, I was trying to play a different role rather than play Chris Gayle himself, so, I was more on the team side, and I tried to adapt. I didn’t get the runs but what was important the guys rallied around me.”