Chris Gayle names India player who is 'up there with universe boss' in six-hitting ability

Chris Gayle was one of the cricketing legends to be in attendance at The Oval Stadium in London, watching India vs Australia, ICC World Test Championship 2023 Final. In a conversation with ICC, Gayle was asked to share his thoughts on who can match his dominating skills on the pitch. Interestingly, Gayle went on to name the Indian cricket captain Rohit Sharma as the player who is closest to him.

“You are and will be one of the greatest six-hitters the game has ever seen. Anybody that compares or lives up to that six-hitting ability,” questioned host, Sanjana Ganesan. Shedding his thoughts, Chris Gayle replied, “Well, the greatest six-hitter of all time. These days, to be honest, even the smaller guys are hitting sixes. So, the game pretty much keeps changing and keeps growing as well. The stroke players are hitting sixes as well”. 

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“We have the Hitman, Rohit Sharma, I am sure he is going to hit a lot more sixes. He is up there with the universe boss. He is the closest guy to me right now and he is currently playing as well in all formats. I am sure one day, he will get that for sure. Rohit Sharma, a quality, class player. He is one of the legends of the game as well. He is the only guy right now, hitting those boundaries, hitting those sixes,” the 43-year-old added.

Rohit Sharma vs Chris Gayle: Comparison of maximums hit by two greats

Concluding his thoughts on the topic, Gayle further mentioned Glenn Maxwell’s spectacular six-hitting skills, before talking about youngsters like Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal. During his international cricketing career from 1999 to 2021, Gayle hit a whopping 124 sixes in 79 T20Is, 331 maximums in 301 ODIs, and 98 sixes in 103 Test matches. At the same time, he scored 7214 runs in Test cricket, 10480 runs in ODIs and 1899 runs in T20Is.

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Rohit Sharma plays his 50th Test during the ICC World Test Championship final

Meanwhile, as pointed out by Gayle, Rohit Sharma’s tally of sixes in his international career looks a lot quite impressive as well. Ahead of the IND vs AUS, ICC WTC final, Rohit had 3379 runs to his name in 49 Tests, alongside 69 sixes. In the ODI format, Sharma has smashed 275 sixes, while scoring 9825 runs in 243 ODI games. In the shortest format of the game, the India skipper has hit 257 sixes, while scoring 3853 runs in 148 T20Is. 

A quick look at the IPL record books further highlights the similarities in Rohit and Chris’ six-hitting abilities. While Gayle hit a whopping 357 sixes in his IPL career that lasted for 142 games, Rohit sits second in the list of batsmen to hit the most sixes with 257 maximums to his credit in 243 games.