Indo-Asian News Service
Canberra, Feb 24: West Indies opener Chris Gayle, who smashed the first World Cup double century here Tuesday, said he wanted to get it ever since India’s Rohit Sharma scored two of them in ODIs.
“I am very happy to get this first double hundred and ever since Rohit got two (ODI double hundreds), I have been wanting to get one as well,” Gayle said after his whirlwind innings at the Manuka Oval here, after the game ended Tuesday.
Gayle, who has not been his best of late, said he was under immense pressure to perform and could not quite believe it after scoring the double hundred. “I said to myself ‘you can’t be serious?’ I just want to thank God for this knock. I was under pressure to score runs and I kept getting messages from Twitter and on my cell phone. I have never felt this kind of pressure but in the end, I am sure I gave them something to talk about,” stated the southpaw.
The Jamaican said he wanted to build his innings rather than throw his bat around from the word go. “It was a bit slow at the start, not to mention that it (ball) was keeping low. I just tried to take the bull by the horns and hang out there and try and build an innings. After a while I was able to pick a bowler to target and then, in the end, I was out off the last ball,” while going for the 17th six which could have given me another record. “Overall, I am really happy and I just want to try and build on this as much as possible. Want to build on this momentum and move ahead as we look towards the South Africa game,” Gayle added.
“However, I would just like to continue in the same vein in the remaining matches also and contribute to the West Indies cause,” Gayle stated.
