IPL 2018: Former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) player Chris Gayle felt betrayed after this season IPL’s auction as he was told that the franchise wanted to retain him but never called back. In an interview given with TOI Gayle revealed that since he didn’t get any call, it was clear that they didn’t want him. “I was their biggest draw. It was disappointing from that end because they (RCB) had called me. They wanted me in the team and I was told that I will be retained. But they never called back after that. So that gave me the impression that they didn’t want me and it’s fine,” he said.
In the previous seasons played for RCB, he scored a whopping 3163 runs at a strike-rate of 152.7 yet the franchise didn’t bid for the West Indian opener in IPL auction 2018. Gayle had a couple of poor seasons by his standards. He scored just 227 runs in 10 matches in 2016, whereas in 2017, he scored 200 off nine. He almost went unsold in the auction before Kings XI Punjab bought him at the base price of Rs 2 crore.
It turned out to be a great move as Gayle scored a half-century in his first match for the franchise and followed it with a century. In four matches so far, he has scored 252 runs. Gayle said that form can’t be a reason for RCB not retaining him as he had a good CPL and BPL. “As I said, I can’t fight with anyone. I think I had a wonderful CPL and BPL – where I scored two centuries for my side Rangpur Riders. The stats don’t lie: 21 centuries, most number of sixes. If that doesn’t put a stamp on brand Chris Gayle, I don’t know what will,” he said.
The southpaw said that he would be obliged if KXIP win the IPL trophy this year as they have not won it yet. Talking about his future, Gayle said that winning the IPL this year and the World Cup for West Indies next year are his main targets. “I believe West Indies have a big chance of winning the World Cup in 2019. I know we struggled in the qualifiers but now that we’ve made it, our next aim is to win it. But right now it’s definitely the IPL. KXIP have never won it,” he said.
Praising Preity Zinta, Gayle said that the way she roots for her players is just amazing and needs to lift the IPL trophy this year.
