If Virat Kohli has to be the cricketer of this decade, Chris Gayle is the cricketer of the 21st century so far

Southampton could see the last time England face the West Indian opening batsman Chris Gayle. If Virat Kohli has to be the cricketer of this decade, Gayle is the cricketer of the 21st century so far.

While Kohli has mastered all three formats, Gayle pioneered one of them in addition to excelling at the other two. In T20 Gayle is still the only person to have scored 10,000 runs. He has also scored 21 centuries, and the second highest number of centuries in 20-over cricket that anybody else has scored is seven.

Last March I went to the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut where that admirable charity Capital Kids Cricket was delivering a course to Palestinian and Syrian boys and girls. They had previously never heard of cricket, except for one name: Chris Gayle, the Universe Boss.

This could be the last time England meet Gayle if they defeat West Indies, and continue their advance towards the semi-finals, leaving West Indies to languish outside the top four. Or it could be the last time if Gayle rolls back some of his 39 years, yet again, and demolishes England’s bowling, so that West Indies win and go on to qualify for the semis instead of England.

Simply participating in this tournament is a feat in itself, because Gayle is one of only two cricketers still involved in international cricket who played in the 20th century. The other is Shoaib Malik, famous really only for the fact that Pakistan keep on selecting him. It was in the autumn of 1999 that CH Gayle made his debut for West Indies in an ODI against India - so long ago that Brian Lara was his captain and Courtney Walsh the West Indies opening bowler - batting at number four and bowling six overs.

This bowling of course is another string to Gayle’s bow, although no archer pulled an arrow out of his quiver and ambled so languidly to his mark: his dreadlocks are barely ruffled when Gayle bowls. Still, he has taken 73 Test wickets, not bad for an opening batsman, which is 73 more than Kohli, and 165 wickets in ODIs, which is 161 more.

If Gayle’s Test average of 42 is relatively unspectacular, it must be allowed he had to learn about opening on the job, as there was nobody left from the great West Indian teams from whom to learn the right ropes. Still, Gayle has scored two Test triple-centuries as only Don Bradman, Virender Sehwag and Lara have done. If the first was in a bowler’s graveyard, like Lara’s brace, the second was in Galle, and he remains the only visiting batsman to have scored 300 in Sri Lanka, such is the test of stamina alone.

But it is the 20-over format which has made Gayle “the Universe Boss” - not too immodest a title, considering. It was pioneered in county cricket in 2003, then the ICC took the plunge with the World T20 finals in South Africa in 2007. In the opening game Gayle hit 117 off 57 balls with ten sixes (it was in Johannesburg) and the four overs by Shaun Pollock, a master of red-ball length, cost 52 runs. How’s that for a new form of box-office entertainment?

Since then Gayle has become the boss by travelling the universe to represent franchises from Jupiter Giants to Milky Way Wanderers - or at least from Barisal Burners to Jamaica Tallawahs, and Matabeleland Tuskers to Sydney Thunder - putting T20 on the map by smashing one white ball, out of every four to five on average, to or over the boundary. In one IPL game, representing Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors in 2013, Gayle scored 175, unbeaten, off 66 balls - still the highest ever in any professional T20 game - with 17 sixes.

If Gayle’s impact on the sport is comparable to anyone’s, it is that of Dr WG Grace, who also bestrode the cricket world with a beard, playing for anyone who would pay him - under the table - and spreading the red-ball game. Love or loathe the T20 format, there is no denying what Gayle has done - or that Grace, had he been alive, would have picked Gayle’s brain on clearing the front leg out of the way, pointing the toes towards midwicket, and powering straight balls over wide mid-on for six.

Given Gayle’s contribution to cricket, and the release earlier this week of the dates for India’s tour of the West Indies in August - with the two Tests scheduled for Antigua and Gayle’s native Kingston - it would only be appropriate if the Jamaica Test was made into his swansong, on the lines of Alastair Cook’s last game at the Oval. Gayle turns 40 in September, and has not played a Test since 2014, but he could stand at slip - and this would be one of those rare occasions when the individual should be bigger than the game.

Like most persons of principle, Gayle fell out with the West Indian board when the president was Dave Cameron. Cameron has just been deposed. Under the new president Ricky Skerritt, West Indian cricketers past and present, and the board, and the people, are coming together again. There could be no better way to signal this revival, this reunification, than Gayle playing one last Test in Kingston.

Gayle would deserve it if somebody were to compose a song about the Universe Boss when he reaches his next birthday, or name a band after those initials and his age. Or maybe someone has…