Chris Gayle beats Brian Lara's historic record in special 300th ODI

The Port of Spain ODI between West Indies and India was historic for Chris Gayle. The self-proclaimed Universe Boss, who missed the Twenty20 International series, struggled in the first ODI when he managed just four runs off 31 balls. However, in the second ODI, Gayle created two historic records. The match against India was his 300th for the West Indies, making him the first player from the Caribbean to achieve this feat. However, in their chase of 280, Gayle created history when he became the leading run-getter for West Indies in ODIs, breaking the record set by Brian Lara and has been in place since his retirement in the 2007 World Cup. In one over bowled by Khaleel Ahmed, Gayle sent the Queens Park Oval crowd to raptures.

In the first ball of the ninth over, Gayle steered a short and wide ball to third man to break Lara's tally of 10348 runs for West Indies. The left-hander realised the magnitude of the feat and raised his bat to the entire Queens Park Oval as the crowd acknowledged the historic achievement. Lara had scored 57 runs for the ICC World XI while Gayle had 55 runs for the World XI during their respective playing careers. Gayle still had to overtake Lara's tally of 10405 runs and he achieved it duly in the same over when he cracked Khaleel for a cut shot over cover point to break Lara's overall tally of 10405 runs. 

However, Gayle could not carry on after he had crossed the record and was trapped plumb in front for 11 by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and even the review could not save him. Gayle was widely expected to retire from international cricket at the end of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 but reversed his decision and made himself available for the three-match series against India. However, his return has not forced the selectors to consider him for the upcoming two-Test series which begins on August 22.

Gayle has not played a Test since 2014 and it could be a sad end on August 14 when he could potentially play his final international match in the Caribbean at the same venue. However, Port of Spain witnessed a new world record as Brian Lara finally came second-best to Gayle. The Universe Boss would be hoping to create more records in Twenty20 Internationals and in various T20 leagues all over the world as his career comes to an end. 

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HIGHLIGHTS

• Chris Gayle became the leading run-getter for Windies in ODIs.
• Chris Gayle is the leading run-getter in ODIs overall for Windies.
• Chris Gayle became the first Windies player to play 300 ODIs.