West Indian legend Chris Gayle is widely regarded as the greatest T20 cricketer of all-time. He is the highest run-scorer in the format and excelled at all levels of T20 cricket, from franchise tournaments to international events like the ICC T20 World Cup.
For his outstanding accomplishments over the years, Chris Gayle is widely hailed as the God of T20 cricket. While there are some other noteworthy contenders for this prestigious title, Gayle has distanced himself from the rest.
Chris Gayle - God of T20 cricket
Chris Gayle’s statistics do the talking on his behalf. The Caribbean stalwart scored 14,562 runs in 463 T20 matches - the most by any batter. He was the first cricketer to surpass the 10,000 mark in T20s after representing various franchises across the globe. Gayle is also the only batter to hit more than 1,000 sixes in this format. While no other cricketer has scored 10 centuries in T20s, Gayle alone has 22 maximums to his credit.
The Universe Boss as he’s affectionately known was also very successful at the international level in the shortest format. He was an integral part of the West Indies team that won two ICC T20 World Cups in 2012 and 2016. Gayle also scored the first-ever century in T20 Internationals during the opening match of the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup in 2007 against South Africa.
Gayle’s most celebrated spell in this format was with Team Bangalore in Indian T20 League. After joining the franchise in 2011, he scored a century on debut against Kolkata and went on to win the Orange Cup for most runs during that season. He followed it up with another Orange Cap during the next season of the Indian T20 League with 733 runs in 15 matches.
Gayle scored 3,163 runs in 85 matches for Bangalore and overall, he scored 4,965 runs in 142 matches in the Indian T20 League, making him the seventh highest run-scorer in the tournament. He also made his highest score of an unbeaten 175 while with Bangalore in 2013.
Rohit Sharma - God of T20 cricket in India
While there are many cricketers in contention for the title of God of T20 cricket, Rohit Sharma comes very close among Indian cricketers. He is hailed as the God of T20 cricket in India for his accomplishments at the international and franchise level.
The 35-year-old steered Team Mumbai to five Indian T20 League titles - in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. He is the third highest run-scorer in the tournament with 5,764 runs in 221 matches and is also the only player to be part of six championship winning teams (five times with Mumbai, once with Hyderabad in 2009).
At the international level, Rohit Sharma scored 3,853 runs in 148 matches, making him the second highest run-scorer in T20I history. He is also the only cricketer to hit four T20I centuries and leads the list of most sixes in this format, with 182 sixes to his credit.
Overall, Rohit Sharma is India’s second highest run-scorer in T20 cricket. He scored 10,703 runs in 407 T20s, and no other Indian batter has hit more sixes than him in this format (462).
