Chris Gayle returned smiles to the faces of Indian fans yesterday, blasting the fastest century in World Twenty20 cricket to take West Indies to a crushing six-wicket victory over England in their opening match of the ICC World T20 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Indian fans were left heart-broken one day earlier, after their team went down to unfancied New Zealand by 47 runs. Yesterday, they came out in support of the Caribbean men, lining Marine Drive en route to the Wankhede Stadium, and chanting the name of the man, who would eventually deliver victory for their adopted team.
Gayle completed his century off 47 balls and remained unbeaten on 100 off 48 balls with five fours and 11 towering sixes to better his own record of a 50-ball hundred in the 2007 tournament in South Africa.
Marlon Samuels set the tone by hitting eight fours in his 37 before Gayle's brutal hitting took West Indies to 183-4 in 18.1 overs in reply to what earlier appeared to be a competitive England total of 182-6.
The England innings was built around 48 from Joe Root, 30 from Jos Butler and an unbeaten 27 from skipper Eoin Morgan.
West Indies started the chase badly, losing the wicket of Johnson Charles but Samuels took the early fight to the English, storming to 37 off 27 balls before he left. Gayle started with a four and six but did not get much of the strike in the earlies.
He completed his half century off 27 balls, smashing three fours and five sixes.
"The dew played a part as well," Gayle said. "After facing the first over, I took a while to get back on strike. But Marlon helped ease the pressure."
At the fall of Samuels' wicket, Gayle took flight.
The left-hander required only another 20 deliveries to complete his century and smashed six more sixes and two boundaries that included three straight successive sixes off off-spinner Moeen Ali.
"Before I went out, Sulieman Benn said 'entertain me'," Gayle said. "Pleased to finish the game and not leave it to anyone else. I was pumped today."
During his mayhem, he lost Denesh Ramdin (14) and Dwayne Bravo (2) but when he acknowledged his subjects on getting to his second international T20 century and 17th overall, Andre Russell was there to shake his hands. Such was Gayle's domination that Russell remained unbeaten on 16 in the unbroken fifth wicket stand of 70 runs.
Earlier, West Indies won the toss and opted to field.
Jerome Taylor, the right arm pacer and leg-spinner Samuel Badree started well, but in the third over, Jason Roy got England on the way by taking 16 runs of the Jamaican.
With the momentum on their side, the English followed up by smashing Badree for 13 runs in the next over. Sammy replaced Taylor with Russell who had immediate success, getting Roy for a run-a-ball 15 runs.
Root continued the good work with Alex Hales and 50 came off 6.3 overs as the West Indies bowlers were found wanting.
But left arm spinner Benn bowled Hales for 28 from 26 balls that included four fours. The partnership between Hales and Root was worth 55 off just 28 balls.
At the fall of Hales' wicket, Root continued to dig deep and saw England bring up the 100 of 12.2 overs. Soon after, Root (48) was dismissed when he drove uppishly at Russell and was caught. He faced 36 balls, striking three fours and two sixes.
Skipper Eoin Morgan boosted the innings with a cameo unbeaten 27 from 14 balls and England would have been pleased with the eventual 182 for six.
But "Hurricane" Gayle arrived on the scene to put the wind in the West Indies sails as they stormed their way to victory. West Indies will next meet Sri Lanka in Bangalore on Sunday in their second fixture of Group 1.
SCOREBOARD
West Indies vs England
England inns
J Roy c Badree b Russell 15
A Hales b Benn 28
J Root c Taylor b Russell 48
J Butler c Brathwaite b Bravo 30
E Morgan not out 27
B Stokes lbw Bravo 15
M Ali run out 7
Extras 1b, 1lb, 10w 12
Total for 6 wkts (20ovs) 182
Fall of wkts: 37, 92, 114, 152, 175, 182.
Bowling: J Taylor 3-0-30-0, S Badree 4-0-34-0, A Russell 4-0-36-2, S Benn 3-0-23-1, D Bravo 4-0-41-2, C Brathwaite 2-0-16-0.
West Indies inns
J Charles c Ali b Willey 0
C Gayle not out 100
M Samuels c Willey b Rashid 37
D Ramdin c Rashid b Ali 12
D Bravo c Hales b Topley 2
A Russell not out 16
Extras lb4, w10, nb2 16
Total for 4 wkts (18.1ovs) 183
Fall of wkts: 2, 57, 103, 113.
Bowling: D willey 3-0-33-1, G Topley 2.1-0-22-1, C Jordan 4-0-24-0, B Stokes 3-0-42-0, A Rashid 2-0-20-1, M Ali 4-0-38-1.
Result:
West Indies won by 6 wkts.
Man of the match: Chris Gayle.
Highest World Twenty20 Scores
?123 Brendon McCullum, NZ vs. Bangladesh, Pallekele, 2012
117 Chris Gayle, WI vs. South Africa, Johannesburg, 2007
116no Alex Hales, England vs. SLanka, Chittagong, 2014
111no Ahmed Shehzad, Pakistan vs. Bangladesh, Dhaka, 2014
103no Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh vs. Oman, Dharamsala, 2016
101 Suresh Raina, India vs. South Africa, Gros Islet, 2010
100no Chris Gayle, WI vs. England, Mumbai, 2016
100 Mahela Jayawardene, SLanka vs. Zimbabwe, Providence, 2010