Twenty20 cricket
He was made captain of the West Indies team in the ICC T20 World Cup 2009 after getting criticized for playing in the IPL 2008 and missing an international series a few months before. Gayle scored 88 runs in the opening game of the tournament and helped the Windies beat a dominant Australian team before eventually losing in the semi-final to Sri Lanka.
On 1 July 2009, Gayle signed with the Western Australia Warriors for the Australian Domestic Twenty20 tournament known as the Big Bash for the 2009–10 season.
In 2011, after being left out of the initial part of the West Indies T20 and one-day home series against Pakistan, Gayle opted to join the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League. In his debut game against his previous team Kolkata Knight Riders in their home ground, he scored 102 off 55 balls, hitting 10 fours and 7 sixes. On 6 May 2011, he scored another century, 107 off 49 balls in Bangalore against the Kings XI Punjab, which included 10 fours and 9 sixes. In the next match against Kochi Tuskers Kerala, he scored 37 runs in one over, which included 3 sixes, 3 fours and a no ball that was hit for a six. Although many people cite him as having hit the over for 37, one run was awarded as an extra due to the no ball. He can therefore be said to have hit 36 off an over that went for 37. Gayle won the Orange Cap Award for scoring the most runs in the tournament amassing 608 runs in 12 matches. He was instrumental in many victories for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and received five Man of the Match awards and also the Player of the Tournament award for his performances. In the 2011 Champions League Twenty20, Chris Gayle was the second highest run-scorer in the competition, behind David Warner, with 257 runs from 6 matches at an average of 42.83 and a top score of 92, and was one of the star players.
Following his prolific performances, Gayle was signed by Zimbabwean franchise Matabeleland Tuskers, for the 2011-12 Stanbic Bank 20 Series. As Gayle later recalled it was valuable practice ahead of the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, where he had signed for the Sydney Thunder. Gayle hoped his first appearance in the tournament was a success, and he gave the spectators something to cheer about. Gayle was the second West Indian to be signed in the event, after the legendary Brian Lara had signed for Southern Rocks the previous season.
Gayle enjoyed great success in that tournament. He was the leading run-scorer in that series with 293 runs, a top score of 109, and an average over 50, the best of the tournament. The only century Gayle scored in the event ended in defeat as Mid West Rhinos's Brendan Taylor's outstanding 75* outlasted his team. The Tuskers could not win the tournament as they were overpowered by Mashonaland Eagles's Ryan ten Doeschate's brilliant 121* off 58 and despite Gayle scoring a half-century, it was not enough to see his home through.
Gayle also joined the Barisal Burners in the Bangladesh Premier League, and had scored two centuries at more than a run-a-ball.
In the 2012 IPL season, Gayle hit the most sixes (59) and was nominated for the orange cap for making 733 in 14 matches.
Gayle was selected for team Uva Next for the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League in 2012, but did not play for the team due to injury.
Gayle started off his 2013 IPL season scoring 92 not out from 58 balls, hitting 11 fours and four sixes against the Mumbai Indians. His innings helped his team to victory, and he was awarded the man of the match. On 23 April 2013, during an IPL match against Pune Warriors India, Gayle broke multiple scoring records. With an individual score of 175 not out off 66 balls and a century reached in 30 balls, Gayle set records for the fastest century reached in any format of cricket, the highest individual score in a T20 match, and the most sixes scored in a single innings in the IPL. He also took two wickets in the match.
At the launch of the Caribbean Premier League, Gayle was announced as the first franchise player for the league.
During the 2015 T20 Blast season in England, Gayle represented Somerset and despite appearing in just 3 games for the county he contributed 328 runs including a score of 151 not out in a losing cause against Kent. The knock that came from 62 balls included 15 sixes and remains the highest T20 score at the County Ground Taunton.
On 18 January 2016, in a match with the Adelaide Strikers, Gayle set a new Big Bash League record for the fastest fifty and equaled the world record set by Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh against England in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20. He reached 51 in just 12 deliveries which included seven sixes and smashed the previous record of 18 deliveries set by Strikers batsman Tim Ludeman. He was dismissed shortly after for 56 off 17 balls by Travis Head.
Gayle was signed by Lahore Qalandars in 2016 for 200,000 dollars to play in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Gayle had his worst T20 league, citing back problems. He only scored 103 runs from five matches and was also out twice for a golden duck, the most in his T20 career, by Junaid Khan. Gayle returned for a second season of PSL in 2017, this time picked by Karachi Kings. He played 9 matches for the team, and scored merely 160 runs. This would be prove to be last outing for Gayle in PSL, as he wasn't picked by any team in the 2018 and 2019 drafts of the league. In 2021, he was picked by Quetta Gladiators.
On 18 April 2017, Gayle reached the 10,000 runs milestone in T20 cricket after scoring 77 runs off 38 balls in a match against Gujarat Lions where Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 21 runs. He was also awarded the man of the match which was his first in IPL 2017.
On 16 September 2017, Gayle became the first ever player to hit 100 T20I sixes.
On 28 January 2018, Gayle was bought by Kings XI Punjab (Now Punjab Kings) in the 2018 IPL Auction for his base price of ₹20 million. On 19 April, Gayle scored 104* off 63 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad, and his team won the match by 15 runs. It was his 6th IPL century. Gayle was retained by the franchise for IPL 2021. He however left the tournament in the second leg, citing 'bio-bubble fatigue'.
In May 2018, Gayle was named as one of the ten marquee players for the first edition of the Global T20 Canada cricket tournament. On 3 June 2018, he was selected to play for the Vancouver Knights in the players' draft for the inaugural edition of the tournament. In September 2018, he was named as the Icon Player for Balkh's squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament. The following month, he was named in Jozi Stars' squad for the first edition of the Mzansi Super League T20 tournament. In June 2019, he was selected to play for the Vancouver Knights franchise team in the 2019 Global T20 Canada tournament. In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the Jozi Stars team for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament. In October 2020, he was drafted by the Kandy Tuskers for the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League. In November 2021, he was selected to play for the Colombo Stars following the players' draft for the 2021 Lanka Premier League.
On 17 May 2022, Gayle was inducted into the RCB Hall of Fame (along with AB de Villiers) for his contributions to the team between 2011 and 2017.
In 2022, Chris Gayle made his Legends League Cricket debut for Gujarat Giants.
