Chris Gayle's double hundred leaves Zimbabwe in tatters

Chris Gayle wrote history with a mammoth 147-ball 215 to beat a shell-shocked Zimbabwe by a 73-run margin in their World Cup 2015 Group B encounter played at the Manuka Oval, Canberra on Tuesday.

A woefully out-of-form Gayle took the crease after his captain Jason Holder won the toss and chose to bat first. West Indies lost opener Dwayne Smith off the second ball of the match and early signs suggested the pitch would be slow and difficult to bat on.

Gayle and Marlon Samuels carefully played out the new ball and managed just 50 runs in the first 12 overs. But once they got their eye in, they began to push the tempo.

It took 23.3 overs for West Indies to cross the hundred-run mark but they did so, having lost just one wicket. Gayle and Samuels then made the most of the solid platform that they laid and began to cut loose.

Gayle clubbed Tafadzwa Kamungozi for two huge sixes in the 26th over and the Sikander Raza for another two-overs later. The Gayle-Samuels combine put on their 150-run stand in the 31st over. It took four boundary-less overs thereafter, before Gayle reached his 22nd ODI hundred from just 107 balls.

He had struck six sixes and five fours at that stage. What followed was a barrage of boundaries that lifted West Indies to a mammoth 372 runs in their innings.

Gayle played aggressor and tore apart Zimbabwe's bowlers. He hit ten-more sixes and five-more fours to break the record for the highest individual score at a World Cup, which was earlier held by Gary Kirsten.

Gayle fell off the last ball of the innings but he had already done the damage. Samuels also scored a century and remained unbeaten on 133. Their 372-run stand broke the record for the highest-ever partnership in ODI history.

Zimbabwe lost wickets regularly and despite a valiant effort from Sean Williams, who scored a quick fire 76, and Craig Ervine's 52, they managed just 289 in reply.

"We still have 50 overs to get through. I didn't want to be out with the first ball. I said "you can't be serious?" I just want to thank god for this knock. I was under pressure to score runs, and I kept getting messages from twitter and on my cell phone. I have never felt this kind of pressure, but in the end, I am sure I gave them something to talk about," Gayle said.