KARACHI, Pakistan (CMC) — Chris Gayle headlines a plethora of West Indies stars confirmed for next weekend's draft of the Pakistan Super League.
The 41-year-old Gayle, along with veteran all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, former Twenty20 captain Carlos Brathwaite and openers Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis were among 25 foreign players announced by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) yesterday.
Barbados-born England all-rounder Chris Jordan is among the foreign players indicating his participation in the sixth edition of the showpiece set to run from February 20 to March 22.
Gayle, the most successful T20 batsman ever with 13,584 runs and 22 hundreds from 411 matches, has been installed in the platinum category along with his West Indies counterparts and the likes of Afghan superstar leg-spinner Rashid Khan and South Africa fast bowler Dayle Steyn.
“We are delighted to release a star-studded list of players in the platinum category even though we are dealing with an unprecedented situation due to COVID-19, and player availabilities are also hampered by a packed FTP (Future Tours Programme) calendar,” said commercial director Babar Hamid.
West Indies star batsman Chris Gayle has made it clear that he is looking forward to the T20 World Cup, with high hopes of helping the regional team win a third title.
The big left-hander recently showed that he remains capable of producing plenty of fireworks, after an outstanding season in the Indian Premier League (IPL). After being left on the bench at the start of the tournament, the insertion of Gayle into the line-up fueled an impressive run for Kings XI Punjab who narrowly missed out on making the playoffs. During the tournament, Gayle became the first player to reach 1000 T20 sixes.
Having found himself in that type of form, retirement is understandably now the furthest thing from the batsman’s mind and he is ready to take that kind of form into international cricket.
“I’m enjoying my cricket, to be honest with you. I just recently played the IPL in Dubai and did well. Now I have the T10, honestly, I’ve been feeling good, I’ve been putting in some work,” Gayle said.
Former West Indies fast bowler, Franklyn Rose, believes current players representing the team could benefit from a change in mindset as he believes many might be too focused on playing the game solely for financial benefit.
After a hiatus enforced by the coronavirus pandemic, the West Indies resumed international cricket with a three-Test tour of England in July. The Windies won the first match but were badly outplayed for the rest of the series in a 2-1 defeat. The team then headed to New Zealand, last month, where they were handily beaten in both a three-match T20 series and a two-Test series where they suffered an innings defeat in both matches.
In recent times, particularly with the advent of lucrative T20 leagues, some players have been accused of putting personal gain over the pride of representing the West Indies. Rose seems to among those that hold some form of that particular view.
“We need to focus more on the success of the game than just thinking about the big bank accounts,” Rose told Television Jamaica.
Former West Indies spin bowler Nikita Miller says that despite the number of players that have not made themselves available for the upcoming tour of Bangladesh, he does not foresee a repeat of such issues for future matches this year.
The West Indies are expected to depart next week in preparation for the tour, which will consist of three One-Day Internationals (ODI) and two Test matches to take place in the cities of Mirpur and Chittagong. However, several players, including Test captain Jason Holder, ODI captain Kieron Pollard, and Roston Chase chose not to participate in the tour for health and safety reasons relating to the coronavirus. Other players who are not in the squad are Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, and Nicholas Pooran.
Miller says that with the prospect of playing in the Caribbean this year, there shouldn’t be notable absences from the team in the future.,
“When you look at the schedule for the West Indies this coming year, they are mostly home series,” he said. “So in terms of going forward, I don’t think there will be too many issues where that is concerned.”
The West Indies Players Association (WIPA) says it has no qualms over the safety of the West Indies squad on the upcoming tour of Bangladesh and is supporting the COVID-19 health protocols implemented for the series.
Secretary Wayne Lewis said WIPA had held extensive discussions with Cricket West Indies (CWI) over the tour and were convinced the protocols were consistent with what had been executed on recent previous tours.
“We’ve had absolutely none (worry over protocols) because [they’re] the same exact protocols as what transpired in England and also in New Zealand,” Lewis told Starcom Radio’s ‘Mason and Guest’ cricket show.
“We’ve had extensive meetings with Cricket West Indies and their team and our team, led by our Dr. Andre Cooke, who guided us throughout that process because we’re not medical doctors.
