MUMBAI: West Indies batsman Chris Gayle proved he remains a bowlers’ nightmare after becoming the first player to reach 10,000 runs in Twenty20 cricket, going past the milestone during a match-winning blitz in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday.

Swashbuckling Gayle, 37, who plies his trade across the world’s Twenty20 leagues, smashed 77 off 38 balls with five fours and seven sixes to lead Royal Challengers Bangalore to a 21-run win over Gujarat Lions in Rajkot on Tuesday.

Gayle went into the match having failed to make any significant contribution for his franchise in the ongoing season which led to his dropping from the playing XI.

The burly left-handed opener came in as a replacement for the injured AB de Villiers.

“People are still looking out for Chris Gayle. The Universe Boss is still here and still alive,” he told reporters.

“It was great fun. You know it’s good to be back. I wanted this so badly, but first of all to get 10,000 runs, it was actually on my mind, so I’m glad to get that sort of achievement.

“It’s a privilege to actually be the first person to get there.”

Gayle’s last appearance in a Test match has been three years back while he last played an One-day International for West Indies in March 2015.

He last played a Twenty20 international in April last year after an alleged pay dispute led to a fallout with the West Indies Cricket Board.

Gayle prefers playing in the T20s, a format in which he is nearly 2,500 runs clear of his nearest rival and former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum.

He has scored 7,534 runs in fours and sixes in his domestic Twenty20 career including 18 centuries and 61 fifties.

“He’ll hang his hat on that, as he should,” Australia batting great Ricky Ponting told the Cricket Australia website.

“He’s played more T20 cricket in the last five or six years than he has other forms of the game, but he’s dominated the game pretty much everywhere he’s been.”

Gayle has scored 13 Test hundreds with a top score of 333 and 22 centuries in 269 ODIs for West Indies.

“I just want to thank the fans and all the franchises where I have actually played around the world,” Gayle added.

“Even playing for West Indies as well. At the end of the day, they have actually played a part in this 10,000 runs as well.

“It has been fantastic and like I said still I have a lot more to offer to the fans. Hopefully, I can keep entertaining and get a few more thousand runs under my belt.”

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2017