West Indian hard hitting opener Chris Gayle, one of world's most dangerous Twenty20 batsmen, slammed an unbeaten hundred to guide his side to an easy six-wicket win against England Wednesday night in their opening match of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2016 at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium.
Gayle, known for his six-hitting ability, struck 11 maximums and five boundaries in his 47-ball hundred - the fastest ever in the history of the World T20. He also became the only batsman to record 200s in the World T20 and the second batsmen to register 200s in the history of T20Is.
"It was a fantastic innings and I'm really happy to have finished the game, I didn't leave it for anyone. Sulieman Benn said to me I had to go out and entertain him, that gave me that spark as well," the man of the match Gayle said during post match ceremony. West Indies skipper Darren Sammy, who described Gayle as a "universe boss," said that England batted well, but his side was happy to chase 182.
Batting first, England posted a challenging total of 182 on the scoreboard with the help of Joe Root (48), Jos Buttler (30) and skipper Eoin Morgan (27) knocks. West Indies chased down the target in 18.1 overs with six wickets in hand.
England skipper' Eoin Morgan gave credit to Chris Gayle for taking the game away from them despite a competitive total. "Given it will be played in similar conditions to this one we will be better for having played in this but we never really took the game away from them and Chris Gayle is a hard guy to stop," Morgan said during a post-match interaction with media.
England will face South Africa in their next World T20 fixture on Friday. "We look at all our games as must win but certainly the next one will be," Morgan said.
Brief Scorecard
England: 182 for six in 20 overs - Joe Root (48), Jos Buttler (30) and Eoin Morgan (27 not out); Russell 2/36, Bravo 2/41
West Indies: 183 for four in 18.1 overs - Chris Gayle (100 not out), Marlon Samuels (37), Andre Russell (16 not out); Adil Rashid 1/20, Topley 1/21)
Check out full scorecard here and here and videos of the match here and here.
