Chris Gayle
Former West Indies captain Chris Gayle recently stated his decision on giving the entire home series against Pakistan a miss for the lucrative IPL chance with Bangalore. He stated that he was left with very less choice after being ignored for the ODIs and a T20 international by the WI national selectors.
He was forced to accept the Indian Premier League franchise’s offer after seeing an uncertain future. The explosive opening batsman joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore after Dirk Nannes was ruled out with an injury. The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) had reacted angrily to Gayle’s decision, saying that the move was unacceptable and disappointing.
The 31-year-old batsman was critical of the remarks he made and was quoted saying, “I was actually forced to make this decision based on what was happening around me and based on what has happened to players – Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan.”
The left-hander also added that after getting injured in the recently-concluded World Cup, he was left at his own and had to pay all expenses for medical treatment in Britain before flying back home. Quoting him, he said “I took it upon myself to commence a rehabilitation programme with my personal trainer .A group of players were selected for a training camp in Barbados, and I never got a call, nobody spoke to me, and I decided to leave it alone.”
He continued saying that “I continued my training programme, and I came to find out via the media that a Twenty20 squad was announced, and a one-day international squad was announced, and I was stunned when I saw a big headline in the newspapers, ‘Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul dropped’,” he said.
With an utterly disappointing selections and a bleak future, IPL might just change his luck!
Tags: Chris Gayle, Cricket, Indian Premier League, IPL, IPL 2011, IPL 4, West Indies, West Indies Cricket Board, WICB
