New Delhi, Oct. 2: A laid back Chris Gayle looked at ease as he took questions from the media here on Monday, ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy qualification round for the West Indies, with the same effortlessness with which he dispatches bowlers to the fence.

Here in India as the defending champions, the West Indies have to qualify for a place in the tournament along with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. After a successful few months in international cricket, Chris Gayle is now in India and up for the challenge.

When asked about the qualification rounds, a seemingly dejected Gayle replied: "We are disappointed at being asked to qualify despite being the defending champions. But we are focused on the task at hand and are looking at it positively."

Gayle has a sizzling record in India and is looking forward to ‘smash a few’: "I have fond memories of my previous tour to India. But this is a new tour, new tournament and we are not getting ahead of ourselves. There are some highly competitive teams in this tournament and they are after our title. We, as a team, would be aggressive in our game." Not too perturbed about the Kuala Lumpur performance, Gayle said: "The KL series was a very good preparation for the Champions Trophy. We did have some hiccups in the batting but the wickets were not very conducive to stroke-play as well. We were a bit rusty but we are on our way back to the best."

Even though Gayle has shown scant respect for the Indian bowlers in the past, he does see India as a serious threat: "India are a very good team. They have a good record at home and have some excellent bowlers in Munaf, Sreesanth, Harbhajan. Even though we won the ODI series in the West Indies 4-1, we are aware of what India, especially their batsmen, can do."

Even though Gayle, who describes himself as a moody and laid-back fellow, outlined India, Pakistan and Australia as top contenders for the trophy, he had a word of caution for all the teams: "This West Indian team has started to gell under the leadership of Lara and we have some outstanding talent in our team along with a few handy all-round players. We know that we can beat any team on our day, especially in ODIs. We are here to defend the title and we will give it our all."