Opting to bat on a slow Premadasa wicket, Gayle paced his innings perfectly as he literally butchered the Australian bowling during his 41-ball knock that contained five boundaries and half a dozen of towering sixes.
Marlon Samuels with 26, Dwayne Bravo with a 31-ball-37 and last but not the least Kieron Pollard (38, 15 balls, 3x4, 3x6) also matched him stroke for stroke to notch up the highest total in the current edition.
Left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty, who had looked unplayable on the same track during Super Eights was hammered for 48 runs in his three overs, including 25 from the final one which had four sixes. Half of the 14 sixes in West Indies innings were hit off Doherty's bowling.
Teams have often complained about the Premadasa track and difficulty in stroke-making but Gayle showed that if you have brute power, then nature of pitches become irrelevant.
The decision to promote Marlon Samuels up the order also partially paid off as he didn't take much time to settle down before he started tonking the bowlers.
Samuels during his brief stay smashed 26 off 20 balls, including a six each off left-arm spin duo of Doherty and Brad Hogg. He was deceived by a slower delivery from Pat Cummins, who send him back to the dug-out.
Gayle-Samuels had put on 41 runs in only 4.3 overs in which Samuels was the dominant partner. MORE
