The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket

Gayle signs with Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL

Tue, Apr 19, '11

 

Chris Gayle

Former West Indies skipper and hard-hitting opener Chris Gayle has been roped in by the Royal Challengers Bangalore as a replacement for left-arm paceman Dirk Nannes who has been ruled out of the remainder of season four of the Indian Premier League due to a side strain.



 The left-hander, who was formerly with the Kolkata Knight Riders and went unsold during the latest IPL auction in Bangalore early this year, is likely to join the side on Tuesday morning here, according to sources. It is, however, not clear if the 31-year-old will be included for the match against Rajasthan Royals later in the day.

Gayle, who was in the highest reserve price tag ($400,000), found no bidders who feared his unavailability for the T20 league given Windies’ international engagements during the same period. But with the West Indies selectors leaving out Gayle along with other senior players Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan for the first two matches of the ODI series against Pakistan, RCB have signed up the explosive batsman who could just provide the much-needed firepower to the struggling Bangalore team.

 

SOURCE: Deccan Herald.