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NEWS ICC Champions Trophy 2006>Quick assessment of pitches key to batting success: Gayle 01st Nov 2006 18.01 IST By Agencies In-form West Indies opener Christopher Henry Gayle said the key to his success in the Champions Trophy was quick adjustment to Indian pitches. The 27-year-old Jamaican is second in the run charts in the tournament with two centuries, including a ton in West Indies' last league match against England in Ahmedabad, and a tally of 302 runs.
"I have made some adjustments out in the middle, and it is working for me," Gayle told reporters. Gayle's success at the top of the order is all the more creditable considering that most other teams have struggled to get off to good starts in the tournament. "There is a lot of difference in my batting now. I am just trying to play straight. When I get a start, I try to capitalise on it and not give it away." Sri Lankan Upul Tharanga , the only other batsman to have struck two centuries in the tournament, tops the run getters' list with 320 runs. Gayle said although his team lost the match against England, it had not been a major setback. "It was not a major setback although we would have liked to win every game. We are past that defeat now and want to do well against South Africa." About his knock, Gayle said, the hundred was very pleasing. When I get a start I want to bat as long as possible. I also got good support from (Dwayne) Bravo in the last game. "I am looking forward to the semi-final and hopefully I can transfer that form to this game as well." Gayle, who has also grabbed eight wickets with his tidy off-spin, said he had not been focusing on his bowling though. "I have not been paying any specific attention to my bowling. I have always focused on my batting. I am just a bowler who can come and just get the job done at times." Gayle also said his team, who also happen to be defending champions, had been improving with every match in recent months and the opposition would have to play really good cricket to take the title from them. "It has been a long tour for us ... from Malaysia to India and then the qualifying games. It has put us in the right frame of mind. "We are playing a lot of cricket and the more cricket we play, the better for us. We are the defending champions and the teams will have to come hard at us, if they want to take it away." Also View In-Depth Coverage: ICC Champions Trophy 2006 Team Page: West Indies Team Page: South Africa | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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