Not a category five Chris Gayle storm anymore ?

A look at Chris Gayle's last 10 innings finds no half centuries and West Indies cricketer was also dropped from playing XI against KXIP.

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Chris Gayle was dropped from the playing XI in the last match against Kings XI Punjab. (Source: PTI)

Chris Gayle is undoubtedly one of the greatest entertainers in the history of T20 cricket — one may argue one of the prerequisites for the success of any domestic league. But as age and fitness woes take toll on the 37-year-old body, it is a case of diminishing returns from the big Jamaican.

Gayle has played only T20 cricket for the last two years, and one of the pitfalls of focusing entirely on big hitting is that his balance at the crease and footwork is nowhere near it should be. It can be argued that his feet move better in commercials than they do in matches. Also, as he has never been the swiftest between the wickets, he often wastes precious deliveries between boundaries with often a quality batsman stranded at the other end.

That Gayle is no longer the unstoppable force he used to be is borne out by numbers. A look at his last 10 innings, including his efforts in the 2017 Pakistan Super League, finds no half centuries, which is especially noteworthy as the openers get the best opportunity to carve out a big score in T20 matches.

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Not that the slump is a recent phenomenon. He did precious little to write home about in the 2016 edition of the IPL either and was the 28th highest run-getter of the season. Even though the Royal Challengers Bangalore reached all the way to the final, it was more due to skipper Virat Kohli’s breathtaking form and AB de Villiers rising to the occasion whenever needed. Gayle remained in the line-up more due to the fear factor and his past record than for anything he did on the pitch.

He managed just two half-centuries, with the highest of 76 ironically coming in the title clash. But once he got out after a century opening stand with Kohli, the chase of 208 fell off the rails. In the PSL earlier this year, Gayle had an average of 17.77. He seemed able to neither play a longer innings or give the Karachi Kings innings the required impetus. His highest score was 44 and Gayle was the 17th highest run-getter in the league.

Even though the big left-hander stands on the verge of becoming the first batsman to reach the 10,000 mark in T20, one could not fault the decision of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team management to drop him to accommodate the returning de Villiers for the game against Kings XI Punjab on Monday. Gayle, who is fond of living the life and claims to abide by the mantra ‘Cash is King’, is already persona non grata in Australia’s Big Bash League after his controversial interview outside the boundary to a lady reporter. If his on-field returns do not match his off-field persona soon enough, he will soon find no takers in the various T20 leagues around the world, especially as he rarely bowls these days and is a liability in the field. He has not played a One-Day Internationals since the 2015 World Cup and has not represented the West Indies since the ICC World T20 last year. But with the next editions of both competitions two and three years away respectively, the present trend may point towards an early retirement.

Or he can turn into the Caribbean incarnation of the never-retiring Shahid Afridi, as both Gayle and the West Indies Cricket Board believe a return to the Test arena is unlikely.

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