ICC World Cup: Chris Gayle hits first double ton in WC as WI thrash Zimbabwe

CanberraChris Gayle bludgeoned his wayinto the history books by becoming the first player to score adouble century in the cricket World Cup as the West Indiesrode on his recordequalling 16 sixes to notch up a massive73run win via DL method against Zimbabwe here todayGayle who became the only nonIndian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma to score a double ton smashed 215 off just 147 balls with the help of a staggering 16 sixes and 10 fours to help West Indies amass 373 for two after electing to bat firstWest Indies batsman Chris Gayle celebrates after scoring a double century during their Cricket World Cup Pool B match against Zimbabwe in Canberra Australia on Tuesday PicAPPTIThe destructive batsman was also involved in a record372run secondwicket partnership with centurion MarlonSamuels 133 before West Indies bowled out the Africans for289 in 443 overs during their revised chase of 363 in 48overs post a brief spell of rainFormer South Africa opener Gary Kirsten held the previousindividual record with a score of 188 against the sameopponents at the 1996 edition in Rawalpindi while thelegendary retired Indian duo of Tendulkar and Rahul Dravidheld the partnership record which they scripted against NewZealand in 1999Gayle thus became the only player in world cricket to hita triple hundred in Tests double hundred in ODIs and ahundred in Twenty20 InternationalsThis was Gayles first century since June 2013 the toncoming off 105 balls after the twotime winners opted to batat the Manuka Oval He reached his double ton in 138 ballshitting Tendai Chatara for a boundaryWhile his first hundred was a workmanlike effort thesecond was Gayle at his devastating best getting there off amere 33 ballsSuch was the onslaught that West Indies smashed thehapless Zimbabwe bowlers for 195 runs in the last 13 overs152 of them coming in the final 10Gayle fell short of the highest number of sixes by onlyone tying it with Rohit and South African captain AB deVilliersGayle was ably supported by Samuels who scored 133 off156 balls with the help of 11 fours and three sixesGayles effort was also the highest ever individual scoreby a West Indian batsman bettering Vivian Richards 189against England way back in 1984The total gave West Indies a perfect platform to posttheir second win in the tournament and inch closer to aquarterfinal berth after starting their campaign with a shockdefeat against IrelandIn reply Zimbabwe batted really well to reach a healthy 289 but to chase the mammoth total was too much to ask from the Africans whose innings was halted by rain when they were at 181 in 23 oversZimbabwe too did not start well as they were tottering at 463 but significant contributions from the middleorder helped them resurrect their innings and put up a fight as they did against title contenders South Africa in their tournament openerSean Williams 76 Craig Ervine 52 and wicketkeeperbatsman Brendan Taylor 37 took Zimbabwe as they close they could get to the targetThe Windies bowlers did not perform as well as their batsmen but somehow managed to bowl out their opponents with pacer Jerome Taylor and captain Jason Holder picking up three wickets ManoftheMatch Gayle with his slow spin also picked up a couple of wickets which proved to be the icing on the cake for himBrief scores West Indies 3722 Chris Gayle 215 Marlon Samuels 133 not out Hamilton Masakadza 139 beat Zimbabwe 289 in 443 overs Sean Williams 76 Craig Ervine 52 Brendan Taylor 37 Jerome Taylor 338 Jason Holder 348