There is always a debate over who is the greatest batsman in cricket history. Sir Don Bradman is widely regarded as the greatest batsman of all time, having amassed over 7,000 Test runs at an average of 99.94 in just 80 innings. There are differences of opinion. However, if we just consider the T20 format, Caribbean superstar and self-proclaimed "The Universe Boss" Chris Gayle is undoubtedly the greatest batsman of all time. Because according to statistics, he holds almost all of the batting records in the T20 format. The T20 records of Chris Gayle is analyzed in this article.

How Chris Gayle Reached his 14,000 T20 Runs Milestone

Chris Gayle was just a few runs away from reaching the 14,000-run mark in the Twenty20 format prior to the third match of the recently ended Australia series. Gayle achieved the milestone by smashing a massive six to Adam Zampa over the long-on area in the 9th over while chasing Australia's 141 runs. Chris Gayle has scored 14,060 runs in 425 twenty20 innings thus far with a strike rate of 146.26.

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Gayle delivered with the bat in the match, forming two solid partnerships in the middle with Lendl Simmons and Nicholas Pooran. He stayed at the crease till the 12th over, taking the score to 109. Gayle had shown that he is still capable of playing destructive innings at the age of 41 before losing his wicket to Riley Meredith.

The Windies won the match by 6 wickets thanks to Gayle's 67 off 38 balls knock, which included 7 sixes. With that win, the Windies had clinched the five-match series with two games remaining.

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Chris Gayle's Notable Record in Twenty20 Cricket

Chris Gayle played his first twenty20 match in 2005 and in the following year he made his T20I debut against New Zealand. Since then Gayle has played 433 twenty20 matches, third most appearances in this format.

Source: https://www.espncricinfo.com/

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Here are some of Chris Gayle's most notable T20 records

# Chris Gayle has the most runs in the twenty20 format.

Source: https://www.espncricinfo.com/

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# Chris Gayle holds the record for most runs scored in a T20 innings.

Source: https://www.espncricinfo.com/

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# Chris Gayle holds the record for most hundreds in the T20 format.

Source: https://www.espncricinfo.com/

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# Chris Gayle holds the record for most fifties in T20 cricket.

Source: https://www.espncricinfo.com/

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# Chris Gayle holds the record for the most runs scored in a single calendar year.

Source: https://www.espncricinfo.com/

# Chris Gayle holds the record for the fastest hundred in the shortest format of cricket

Source: https://www.espncricinfo.com/

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# Chris Gayle, Yuvraj Singh, and Hazratullah Zazai share the record for the fastest fifties in T20 cricket.

Source: https://www.espncricinfo.com/

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# Chris Gayle is the only player in Twenty20 history to hit over 1000 sixes.

Source: https://www.espncricinfo.com/

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# Chris Gayle is the only player to hit more than 1000 fours in the Twenty20 format.

Source: https://www.espncricinfo.com/

Apart from the aforementioned records, Chris Gayle holds the records of fastest cricketer to score 4,000 (107 innings), 5,000 (132 innings), 6,000 (162 innings), 7,000 (192 innings), 8,000 (213 innings), 9,000 (249 innings), and 10,000 (285 innings) runs in the twenty20 format. 

Bottom Line

Sir Garfield Sobers is often regarded as the best cricketer of all time, and Sachin Tendulkar is widely regarded as the greatest batsman of the contemporary age. No one can be dubbed as the best batsman in all formats. However, Chris Gayle, who has been playing international cricket for more than two decades, has made a name for himself by playing some mesmerizing match-winning knocks. No other batsman has even come close to Gayle's T20 statistics. Chris Gayle improved his record by surpassing the 14,000 T20 run milestone in the series against Australia. He is the undisputed king in T20 cricket. If Gayle continues to play for a few more years, he will be able to reach more records. In that case, future generations of cricketers will find it difficult to break Gayle's record.

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