'It’s always about England, India, Australia' - Chris Gayle concerned over less opportunities for lower-ranked nations in Test cricket

West Indies’ flamboyant batter Chris Gayle expressed his concerns over the traditional and longest format of the game and has requested the International Cricket Council (ICC) to help lower-ranked countries play it frequently. Gayle believes that only a few nations get the opportunity consistently to play Test cricket, and as a result, other smaller nations miss out.

Gayle has represented his country in 103 Test matches, scoring 7214 runs at an average of 42.18. He feels that countries like India, England, and Australia get regular opportunities to play the red-ball cricket and as a matter of fact the lower-ranked countries are somewhat ignored. While talking on TalkSport radio, Gayle opened up about the opportunities that the West Indies team and other teams get in comparison to the top placed teams as he said:

“Test cricket is in a bit of trouble. I’m worried more about the lower-ranked teams. They are not getting full support. The game is such a business now and you have the lower-ranked teams getting one or two Test matches. It’s always about England, India, and Australia. Those are the big teams who play four or five Test matches against each other, we don’t get that chance with the lower-ranked teams. It’s a struggle for us. We are always going to be down at the bottom and that’s not good for the sport. It’s going to be a big challenge and the ICC needs to look into that. That’s very key.”

T20 cricket is a life-changing aspect: Chris Gayle

Gayle has been a prolific player in the T20 format and is known for his power-hitting abilities in a limited time period. He has 14562 T20 runs from the 463 games that he has played in his career so far. With the T20 format reaching new heights and more franchise-based tournaments being introduced, he said that he had never imagined the T20 format to become so famous in a small time period.

“At first, I was looking at the easy way out. Shorter format, you can finish quicker. I wasn’t really looking to the future. What is happening today, I wasn’t really expecting that. Since that game, the Stanford game, the $20million game. That changed everything within the sport of T20. That’s why you see so many leagues now. The IPL is the biggest one and pays out more. You can get a future out of this game. T20 cricket is a life-changing aspect, it changes a lot of lives. It has for me. I’m really happy where it’s at today,” he further stated.