Gayle, Tendulkar: Their Feb 24 connection

Canberra: It was a case of this day that year when Chris Gayle smacked the first double hundred of a World Cup on Tuesday on the same date when Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar had also registered one-day cricket’s first 200 in 2010 against South Africa.
Gayle, who smacked 215 off 147 deliveries, became the first non-Indian player to register a double century in ODIs after Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma (twice) had achieved the feat earlier.
Incidentally Tendulkar’s 200 not out in the second ODI of the bilateral series against South Africa also came from 147 deliveries as the innings was laced with 25 fours and 3 sixes.
Gayle’s knock was adorned with a record-equalling 16 sixes and 10 fours. Gayle fell short of the highest number of sixes by only one, tying with Rohit and South African captain AB de Villiers.
Gayle, however, became the highest individual scorer in a World Cup match, surpassing South African Gary Kirsten’s 188 made in Rawalpindi in 1996 edition.
The destructive batsman was also involved in a record 372-run second-wicket partnership with centurion Marlon Samuels (133) to help the West Indies post 372 for 2 in 50 overs against Zimbabwe.
The legendary Indian duo of Tendulkar, who played in record six World Cups, and Rahul Dravid held the partnership record which they made against New Zealand in 1999 World Cup.
Gayle thus became the only player in world cricket to hit a triple hundred in Tests, double hundred in ODIs and a hundred in Twenty20 Internationals.
The coincidence has caught the imagination of cricket buffs with many of them taking to social networking sites to spread the information — and quite a few calling Gayle’s effort as a tribute to Tendulkar. (Agencies)