Chris Gayle pips Brian Lara to register his name in record books during 2nd ODI against India
West Indies opener Chris Gayle has registered his name into record books during 2nd ODI match against India in Trinidad on Sunday.
The destructive batsman became the first West Indies' cricketer to play 300 ODI games surpassing the Caribbean legend Brian Lara (299).
Gayle, who is fondly known as 'Universe Boss' is expected to retire after the three-match series as uncertainty still remains over his career after he was excluded from the Test squad against India.
Gayle also talked about reaching the milestone with a special video on Windies cricket Twitter account.
"I'm thankful, it's a great achievement to actually accomplish," he said in a video posted by Windies Cricket on Twitter. "It's a very special day. I must give thanks to the almighty to actually reach this far and to the fans for the support through the years, it's been fantastic.
"Hopefully I can make it a special one today for the fans. 300 ODIs, from a personal point of view as well I want to make it a special one. I'm grateful, but it will be more important to get a win as well and go one up as well."
During the toss, West Indies skipper Jason Holder expects 'Universe Boss' Chris Gayle to come good against India in the second ODI which will be his 300th match, the most by a West Indian.
Gayle can also overtake Lara's record for the most ODI runs (10,405) by a West Indies batsman. He requires just nine runs to overhaul Lara's total runs.
"Three hundred games is a lot of games. Some of us in the dressing room can't even imagine that. We just hope he can get us off to a really good start tomorrow," Holder said.
Gayle struggled in the abandoned first ODI, scoring 4 from 31 deliveries but his opening partner Evin Lewis put up a good show, scoring an unbeaten 40 off 36 balls before the match was called off due to rains.
"Definitely happy to see Evin get some time in the middle," Holder said.
"He didn't get the runs he was looking for in the T20 format but it's good to see him get into form in Guyana and hopefully he can transfer that performance here as well."
Early wickets affected West Indies' campaign during their 0-3 loss against India in the T20Is.
"I think in the past we have let ourselves down in having a foundation," Holder said.
"It's just a matter for us to take a few balls at first and get ourselves set and then we take it as the innings goes on."
Holder said his bowlers will have to be consistent as they look to challenge India's famed batting line-up.
"We got to put pressure (on the batsmen) and try to get as deep into their batting line-up (as possible)," he said.
"The wickets nowadays are very good for batting. It tends to play a little bit more in the batsmen's favour, (but) we've been doing a really good job, especially in the World Cup I thought our bowlers did a great job, and (we'll look to) just continue from there and just try to be consistent."
Talking about the pitch at the Queen's Park Oval, Holder said: "It's normally pretty humid. The wicket is a decent one, hopefully, the rain stays away and it doesn't get too soggy. The pitch normally is a very good pitch here.
The conditions should be really good tomorrow. We've got to see how the pitch plays, but ideally, in one-day cricket, 300 runs is the benchmark. We'll see how it all plays out tomorrow."
