Former India all-rounder Salim Durani, who used to hit sixes on public demand, says RCB opener’s hard-hitting ways remind him of fellow WI southpaw
Salim Durani, Chris Gayle., Clive Lloyd
RCB batsman Chris Gayle. (Below) Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd. Pic/AFP
Sport, they say, is a great healer, and that's so true in the case of Salim Durani.
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The former India all-rounder was relaxing at his home in Jamnagar last evening when mid-day called him to discuss Chris Gayle becoming the first player to score 10,000 runs in T20 cricket.
Salim Durani
Durani, who was adept at hitting sixes literally on demand in his heyday, almost forgot about the acute pain in his right leg due to a knee cap problem that leaves him struggling to walk, as he spoke about Gayle's stupendous feat. "Gayle is the hardest hitter of the ball in modern-day cricket. I knew another West Indian too, who used to hit the ball very hard back in my time — Clive Lloyd. Then, I enjoyed watching Lloyd, now, I enjoy watching Gayle," said Durani, who played 29 Tests for India between 1960 and 1973. Gayle's 38-ball 77 for RCB against Gujarat Lions, incidentally in Durani's home state on Tuesday night, saw the West Indian reach 10,000 runs in the shortest format. He has hit a jaw-dropping 743 sixes.
Durani, who hit 15 in his Test career, recalled how the crowd demanded and he delivered back in the day.
"The crowd would yell, 'we want sixer' and I would hit it. But to be honest, I didn't do it on demand. I was going for my shots and more often than not, it was a sheer coincidence that the ball fell in the exact spot from where I could hit it for a six," said the 82-year-old.
Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd. Pic/AFP
Durani said the art of six-hitting was something he picked up in his junior cricket days. "To hit a six, you either get onto the front foot to get under the ball or you stay on the back foot and hit it on the rise. Fortunately, I played my early cricket in Jamnagar and then Mumbai. Now, in Jamnagar, we played mostly on matting wickets, so the ball rose and I would hit on the back foot while in Mumbai, there were turf wickets, so I learnt how to get onto the front foot."
Bats are an important aspect of six-hitting too, said Durani. "Modern bats are big and thick and it gives batsmen at least a 25 per cent edge over the kind of bats we used back then. I don't remember the exact weight of my bats, but I assure you they were not at all thick and heavy like the willows nowadays," he said.
743 No. of sixes Chris Gayle has hit in 290 T20 matches
10074 No. of T20 runs the West Indian opener has scored in his career
18 No. of tons the left-hander has hit in his T20 career
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