Hard-hitting left hand opener, Chris Gayle, arguably, the best T20 batsman of his era, has not been picked from a draft to play in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Gayle, who will form part of the Windies World Cup 2019 qualification bid, became unattractive because he would have to be with the regional side from March 1 to April 14 in Zimbabwe.
However, the availability of Gayle may not have been the only reason six franchises passed on his services, since the PSL, slated to take place in the United Arab Emirates, Lahore and Karachi, had a tentative set of dates, running from February 23-March 24.
“We were told that Gayle is partially available so that was one of the reasons, but even if he was available we would not have picked him because he is no more the Gayle force he once was,” read a quote from an unnamed owner in an article published on the Wisden, India website.
That quote, along with Gayle’s abysmal PSL outings to date, tell a story.
Gayle scored just 103 runs in five matches for the Lahore Qalanders in his first season in Pakistan before doing just as badly in a longer run last season, scoring 160 runs from nine matches.
Gayle also struggled in the Indian Premier League over the last two seasons, a fact the PSL franchises may have taken note of.
The unavailability argument also fails to hold much water when it is considered that a number of other Windies players, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Darren Bravo, Evin Lewis, Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree, and Carlos Brathwaite all found homes with other franchises. (Sportsmax)
