Cricket West Indies (CWI) is thinking of giving Chris Gayle a farewell game at his hometown as per his request to play the last game on his land.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) is thinking of giving Chris Gayle a farewell game at his hometown as per his request to play the last game on his land.
The 42-year-old Jamaican has recently expressed his desire to play the last game at his hometown and CWI is not thinking the opposite of it.
“We would like to. It is at the idea level. No decision on timing or format has been made,”
Ricky Skerritt, the president of the Caribbean board, revealed on Saturday (November 27).
CWI CEO Johnny Grave has also pointed towards the idea that the farewell could be a T20I against Ireland in January.
“We’re going to play three ODIs against Ireland in the second week of January and then one T20 at Sabina Park and I think that would, hopefully, if fans are allowed into Sabina Park a good opportunity for us to say farewell to Chris at his home ground,”
Grave told a radio station recently.
However, Skerritt also hinted that no decision has been made yet if the Ireland game will be Gayle’s farewell match.
“Media has been misinterpreting a simple comment made by the CEO,”
the CWI chief said.
Gayle, a veteran cricketer who has played a total of 103 Tests, 301 ODIs, and 79 T20Is in an international career spanning 22 years, said that he wanted to end his career by bowing out to the love given by his fans.
“I didn’t announce any retirement but if they actually give me one game in Jamaica to go in front of my home crowd, then I can say ‘hey guys, thank you so much,”
the West Indian batting legend said during the recent Twenty20 World Cup in which West Indies failed to make much of an impact.
Meanwhile, on Friday CWI announced the squads for the Pakistan tour although some news was coming that a couple of West Indian players were feeling uncomfortable in travelling to the country.
Jason Holder, Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, and Lendl Simmons are among the players who are not included in the squads while several uncapped players will be seen playing live cricket.
CWI stated that Jason Holder was unavailable while the other players are not available due to personal reasons.
“CWI is committed to the Pakistan white-ball tour. The fact that a few players have made themselves unavailable for personal reasons is not an indication of apprehension. I am confident that we will have a touring squad that is focused on playing good competitive cricket,”
Skerritt told this website.
West Indies are slated to play three ODIs and as many Twenty20 Internationals against Pakistan in December this year.
The ODIs are a part of the Super League stage in which the top seven teams will automatically qualify for the 50-overs World Cup 2023 in India.
West Indies currently stands at the eighth position out of 13 teams. All games will be played in Karachi, from December 13 to 22.