For years, the most destructive T20 opener wore dreadlocks, carried a languid demeanour and struck sixes with disturbing nonchalance. Chris Gayle has long bid farewell to international cricket and top franchise leagues. In Abhishek Sharma, the mauler from Chandigarh, the game has discovered an ideal heir. Their techniques and frames are different. The Indian doesn’t possess Gayle’s ludicrous reach or the demolishing arcs he traced, but he has suppler wrists. He doesn’t have Gayle’s frightening forearms, yet his delightful bat swing carries the ball vast distances. Their run-scoring avenues, however, are strikingly similar. Both are murderous down the ground and off the legs, and disdain anything short on the off side. Gayle thumps those deliveries in front of point; Abhishek slices them backward of the point fielder. Pyrotechnical improvisations rarely tempt either. INDIA VS NEW ZEALAND 1ST T20 LIVE SCORE UPDATES The soul of their game is founded on classical methods, simply stretched to the extremes. The simplicity is ludicrous. Gayle often cleared his front leg just as the bowler released the ball. Abhishek’s first …