IND vs WI: Chris Gayle walks off in style after sizzling knock of 72

West Indies's Chris Gayle acknowledges his fans while walking off the field during the third ODI v India. Pic/AFP

Port of Spain: Chris Gayle may have played his last international game given the theatrics by cricket's showman and the send-off accorded by the Indian players at the end of a typically thunderous innings here on Wednesday. Playing the way he always does, Gayle smashed 72 runs off 41 balls, punishing the Indian bowlers with five sixes and four boundaries in the third ODI.

After hitting one off Khaleel Ahmed straight to visiting skipper Kohli, under whom he played at the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Gayle smiled as Indian players shook hands with him. Indian players even did Gayle's typical jig with him. Gayle threw his bat in the air, put his helmet on top of it and walked off the field. He then hurled the helmet up in the air and caught it while approaching the boundary ropes.

The West Indian camp gave him a standing ovation. In his entertaining ODI career, Gayle competed in 301 matches and accumulated 10480 runs with 25 hundred and 54 half-centuries.
In 103 Tests, he scored 7214 runs with 15 centuries. Gayle has not played in Test cricket for many years. He wanted to turn out for one last Test when India play the series-opener in Jamaica after the ODI series, but the selectors did not name him in the West Indies squad.

He also did not play in the preceding three-match Twenty20 series. Gayle also experimented with his jersey number as the West Indies great sported '301' in the 3rd ODI against India at the Queen's Park Oval. He is now the most-capped West Indies player in ODIs as the big-hitting opener went past Brian Lara's mark of 299 ODIs during the second ODI of the ongoing series on Sunday.

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