West Indies’ Chris Gayle Breaks Cricket World Cup Record

Photo © Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

The Cricket World Cup is underway: and today, West Indies’ Chris Gayle gave the performance of a lifetime against Zimbabwe. In a 372/2-289/10 win, Chris Gayle scored an astronomical 215 runs: torching Gary Kirsten’s previous World Cup record of 188 in 1996.

This is only the fifth time 200 points was achieved in One Day International (ODI) cricket, but is obviously the first time in a World Cup setting: the other three players to achieve this milestone was Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma — who achieved it twice.

Now, let’s just observe some of the ludicrous statistics. He scored 215 on 147 pitches: that is 1.46 points per pitch. On top of this, Gayle had a strike rate of 146.26: the highest before today’s sensational play was 130.35. And lets not forget, Gayle was also the fastest in ODI history to reach 200 points: he only needed 138 balls to do so with the previous record being 140 by Virender Sehwag.

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He also connected on 16 sixes — when a ball is hit beyond the boundary on a fly rewarding the team with six points — which tied AB de Villiers and Rohit Sharma’s record for most in a World Cup game.

After the match, Gayle stated, “I have never felt this kind of pressure, but in the end, I am sure I gave them something to cheer about. It was a bit slow at the start, not to mention keeping it low. I just tried to take the bull by the horns and hang out there and try and build an inning.”

Next, West Indies will face South Africa on Feb. 27.