5 cricketers who preferred franchise cricket over national team

T20 cricket has constantly been on the rise. In fact, with the advent and evolution of T20 cricket, there are multiple leagues that are running all across the world. It was in 2007 that the inaugural World T20 was launched and since then the shortest format hasn’t looked back. The Indian Premier League (IPL) arrived in 2008 and a lot of other big leagues around the followed.

Thus, big players from all across the globe take part in these T20 leagues. However, with the hectic international schedule, the participation of the big stars is limited. But there are certain players who have chosen their franchise over the national team.

These are players who have snubbed national call-ups or advice from the national set-up to play for their respective franchises. Thus, here we look at five such cricketers who preferred franchise cricket over their national team.

1. Chris Gayle

There may not be a bigger T20 star than Chris Gayle in the history of the game. The Universe Boss has certainly played a huge role in the way T20 cricket has shaped up over the last decade or so. He has scored a staggering number of runs (over 13,000) in the shortest format. It may not be wrong to term him as the face of T20 cricket in the present day and age.

However, there have been multiple times in his career when he has opted to play franchise cricket in T20 leagues rather than turn out to play for West Indies. There were quite a few problems between Gayle and the West Indies Cricket Board. But the Jamaican opener has snubbed the national side on multiple occasions.

Even after all the rift with the board has been put to rest, he is picking and choosing the tournaments he wants to play for the Windies. At the moment, Gayle made himself unavailable for the T20I series against India and is currently leading the Vancouver Knights in the Global T20 Canada.

Hence, Gayle has been one of the best T20 players the world has seen but he has also left behind his national side for T20 leagues around the world and is still doing that.