Gayle named greatest ever T20 player by espncricinfo staff

Jamaica and West Indies star Chris Gayle has added to his decorative career after being named the greatest T20 player in a vote conducted among staffers of online cricket magazine espncricinfo.Gayle, who played his first T20 match in 2005, has turned out for over 20 teams in the format, and has featured in games in Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the UAE, the USA, the West Indies, and Zimbabwe.

Gayle, the leading run-scorer in the format, was the first to 10,000 runs, and his 22 centuries are 14 more than those in second place. His 175 remains the highest T20 score, during the course of which he hit the fastest hundred.

Lasith Malinga finished a close second to Gayle in the final match-up in the staff bracket. The exercise started with a shortlist of 32 players with the popularity and impact of West Indian stars in T20s being reflected.

Three of the four semi-finalists were West Indians with Andre Russell and Sunil Narine joining Gayle while  five of the eight quarter-finalists were from the region.