The Universe boss Chris Gayle has confirmed that he will play in a regional T10 league later this year, just before the start of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) on August 30.
Gayle who’s starred in the CPL, the Indian Premier League, the Australian big bash and several other T/20 competitions globally, had taken a lengthy break from cricket to concentrate on his music career.
The 42 year old last played for the West Indies in the ICC T/20 World Cup last year, after she scored a nine-ball 15 against Australia at the T20 World Cup.
As his West Indies team-mates gave a standing ovation by the boundary, Gayle waved his bat to all corners of the ground as he left the pitch.
This was one ball after hitting his 1,045th six in T20 cricket. No player have had more impact on Global T20 cricket than Christopher Henry Gayle.
Gayle hasn’t officially announced his retirement yet, but he has been a part of an aging West Indies team in this ongoing tournament, which has struggled to get going in its quest to defend the title it won more than five years ago.
Commentator Ian Bishop said on air, “Everything points to this being the last time we will see Gayle in West Indies’ colours.
Former India star VVS Laxman Gayle as T20’s greatest player.
Gayle, who made his debut for the West Indies in 1999, was pivotal in their two Two World Cup successes and said he was thrilled to share his last match with his long-time teammate Dwayne Bravo, who has just announced his retirement from the international arena.
A two-time T20 World Cup-winning superstar, Gayle has 1,899 runs in 79 T20Is. He averaged 28.11 and struck at 137.31.
Gayle’s tally includes two centuries and 14 half-centuries. He also scalped 19 wickets in the shortest format. A regular opener, Gayle often batted at number 3 in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup.
In his T20 career, Gayle scored a total of 14,321 runs from 445 innings, including 22 centuries and a world record score of 175 off just 66 balls for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2013 IPL season.
The former West Indies captain hasn’t played a Test match since 2014 while his last ODI appearance came in 2019. An all-format legend, Gayle has 7214 runs in 103 Tests with a high score of 333 and in the 5o over format the former Lucas Cricket club player holds 10.480 runs in 301 ODI’s.