There's plenty of cricket left in Chris Gayle: Stuart Law

Due to his inconsistency and poor fitness, the out of form Chris Gayle was hardly attacked by the critics when they suggested him to call off his 18-year-old cricketing career. The power-hitting Jamaican debuted against India in 1999 at the age of 19. The West Indian left-hand batsman had a poor outing in the recently concluded New Zealand tour, managing just 38 runs in four innings. In addition to this, his team also finished the tour with zero victories, where they lost the Test Series 2-0, ODI series 3-0 and the T20I series 2-0.

The 38-year-old was called back into the national side for the limited-overs series against the Black Caps. Gayle came to the tour with good performances from the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). But unfortunately, he missed most of the matches due to illness and had to sit out on the bench.

Law’s take on demands for retirement of Chris Gayle

Stuart Law, the head coach of the West Indies Indies team defended the big man from the critics and said Chris Gayle still has much to offer the West Indies. The 49-year-old Australian who took over the coaching responsibilities in 2017 spoke to the media after the third T20 international against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui.

He said, “Right now it probably doesn’t look like it but there’s plenty of cricket left in the big man, He can destroy any attack, it doesn’t have to be a minnow. He’s central to the way this dressing room ticks and commands a lot of respect. He’s just got to start performing in the middle again.”

He further supported the big man and added, “He didn’t click in this series. He had a viral infection in the one-dayers and, while T20 is probably his best format, he didn’t get the starts he wanted. He’s played this game long enough. He knows how to do it. He was pretty good in England a few months ago.”

Reason for the poor performance

Finally, the coach revealed the reasons behind the team’s disastrous performance and said that his team was badly hurt by the absence of the senior players. “West Indies form in New Zealand was disappointing but was due in part to the absence of a number of senior players who were key contributors to the team’s win in the World T20 two years ago,” said Law.

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