Chris Gayle century destroys England at World T20 - see the video

Twenty 20 cricket is the most unpredictable form of the game but, as England have discovered during their World T20 match in Mumbai, there is one hard and fast rule: if you don't get Chris Gayle out, you will lose.

Having posted what appeared to be a decent score of 182-6 in their 20 overs, England were obliterated by the West Indies superstar, who hit the third-fastest century in T20 international history off 47 balls and broke his own record for sixes in a World T20 match, smashing 11 maximums as he finished unbeaten on 100 off 48 balls.

To underline their dominance, the Windies reached England's total with 11 balls to spare.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"92427","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]

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"Once again, Gayle left the statisticians working overtime," says Michael Atherton in The Times. "When he drilled Reece Topley over long-off he became the first batsman to clear the ropes 50 times in all World Twenty20s. Little more than an hour later he could boast 98 sixes in all 20-over cricket, seven more than Brendon McCullum."[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"92426","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]

It was a chastening experience for England. Eoin Morgan's team "are learning to play without fear. Chris Gayle wrote the book on it," says Jonathan Liew in the Daily Telegraph.

"The crowd had a better chance of catching the ball than England's fielders did. [Gayle] hit 11 sixes in total, barely bothering with singles at times: the defining motif of his innings the satisfied look on his face as he gazed skyward once more to admire his handiwork."

The regularity with which the cricketer plays such innings is "mind-numbing", says Arun Venugopal in Cricinfo, and the statistics do not tell the full story.

"Dehumanised by numbers, demonised by bowlers, Gayle could pass off for a robotic dark overlord of destruction, ruthlessly carving out innings after innings. Except he is anything but that."

And Gayle summed up his innings with his usual bravado. "The world is watching, so the universe boss got to deliver and he did today," he said. "The Gayle force got the better of England today."