Chris Gayle’s magnificent triple-century in Galle put him up their as one of the greatest all-rounders of all time. Not an all-rounder in the traditional sense of the word you understand, but a modern-day all-rounder who transcends the three formats of the game.
Stripped of the captaincy earlier this year Gayle commented that it did not matter to him whether he was captain or not, he would still play the game in the same way. However, few, himself included, could argue that with the restraints of captaincy resting on his shoulders that he would have been able to play such a brilliant innings. The first hundred was typical Gayle and included six 6s, the second slightly more reserved and the third a combination of reserved and understandably fatigued cricket.
Few other players have been able to transcend Test cricket, 50-over cricket and Twenty20 cricket with the same success and consistency that Gayle has.
When talking about international batsmen Sachin Tendulkar is always a player that should be considered. Whilst ‘The Little Master’ has no equals in the Test and ODI arena his minimal experience on the international Twenty20 stage means that in this respect he cannot quite be considered equal to Gayle.
Ricky Ponting is another who cannot go unmentioned here, but again it is his sketchy Twenty20 record which trips him up.
Thus there are only a select two who can be considered in the same category as Gayle when it comes to all formats of the game. They are Jacques Kallis and Virender Sehwag. Kallis can be considered the ultimate all-rounder all-rounder, if you like, showing class with both the ball and bat in all formats of the game.
Sehwag, with 22 Test and 13 ODI centuries, then is the only other player who can be considered in the same category as Gayle in this respect.
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