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THE Universe Boss Chris Gayle said he thought about walking away from international cricket, but after being contacted by Cricket West Indies (CWI) he now wants to play in the upcoming series and help West Indies win a third T20 World title later this year.
On Friday, in a CWI media release, Gayle was named on the T20 squad for the three-match series against Sri Lanka starting at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua, on Wednesday, at 6 pm. Gayle, 41, joins many other seasoned campaigners on the squad including Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Lendl Simmons and captain Kieron Pollard. The last time Gayle played a T20 international was in March 2019.
On Monday, speaking to journalists on Zoom, Gayle was asked what keeps the fire burning. “The desire I have and still performing as well,” he said.
“Don’t get me wrong sometimes back then I thought about actually walking away from the game, but people were like, ‘No, don’t do it. Stay and play as long as possible.’ So I decided I am going to actually continue playing the game of cricket. I wasn’t really thinking down this road, to be honest. I was saying I will play franchise cricket and exploit my talent more and entertain the people as much as possible...when I got the call and they (CWI) asked if I am willing and interested I said yes.”
Gayle, who said West Indies is where his heart is, added, “I am never going to turn down anything pertaining to West Indies cricket at this particular time. So that’s when I got the call and then I decided I am full on.”
Gayle does not want to attract too much attention as the goal is to win the series. “We want to win the series. I know being back it might be a little bit of attention, but I don’t want (it) to go in that regards. We looking at things as a team point of view. We have a strong captain, Pollard is a very strong captain. We have a lot of quality players within the team.”
Winning the series against Sri Lanka is the short team target, but Gayle said looking ahead the 2021 World T20 title is the long term goal.
“I want to start off on a winning note by winning this series, but the bigger picture is to get three T20 titles under my belt...but we have quite a few series leading up to that as well. We (will) try to take as much as possible out of these series coming up and get some momentum leading up to that time.”
The T20 World Cup was originally scheduled to be held in Australia in October/November 2020, but due to covid19, it will be played in India in October/November 2021. West Indies won the T20 World titles in 2012 and 2016.
There are four batsmen on the West Indies T20 squad who have experience opening for West Indies including Gayle, Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis and Andre Fletcher. Gayle, who batted at number three during the 2020 Indian Premier League for the Kings XI Punjab (now called Punjab Kings), said he is willing to bat in any position the team needs.
“I was really happy to bat at number three (in the IPL), it is not a problem. I am good at playing spin, I am good at playing fast bowling as well (because) I am an opener, but with West Indies cricket whatever role they want me to play I am willing to play that particular role.”
The post Gayle: I will never turn my back on WI appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.