West Indian Discard Lights Up IPL
Chris Gayle is in the form of his life as he continues to dominate bowlers in the IPL Twenty20 Cricket tournament, and embarrass selectors back home who failed to find him a place in the West Indian ODI team that played against Pakistan recently.
Gayle has been the single most sensation in the fourth edition of the IPL, with over 400 runs so far at an amazing strike rate of over 200.00. He has also proved to be a more than useful part-time bowler, taking wickets when needed while maintaining a decent economy rate. Gayle joined IPL after missing a few initial matches of his team Royal Challengers Bangalore, and transformed a team that was on a losing cause into winning outfit that went on a stunning winning streak riding on his blistering batting form. Gayle let his bat do the talking as he took vengeance on bowlers with a savage batting display that one was used to associate with the Caribbean cricket. With cavalier batting in the opening overs, he muscled his way in as the second highest run getter at the 2011 IPL with couple of weeks of cricket still left to further improve the record.
Gayle’s form is remarkable considering that he was not selected for the West Indian national team by selectors headed by Clyde Butts. Clyde Butts made it clear that West Indies would be banking on youth with a view of grooming players for the next 5 to 10 years. Along with Gayle, his team mates Sarwan and Chanderpaul were also left in the wilderness as West Indian selectors opted for youth at the cost of experience, axing some of the stalwarts in the process. The inexperienced new-look West Indies then went onto lose the ODI series against Pakistan while their missing stars, especially Gayle, were proving a point at IPL. However, having lost ODI series, West Indies won the first test match of the test series against Pakistan by 40 runs in a thrilling contest, and it is left to be seen how far the team can progress banking on the exuberance of youth.
Apart from Gayle, fellow countrymen Kieron Pollard, Bravo, and Jerome Taylor are also in the thick of action for their franchises in the latest edition of the IPL. By next week, the IPL will progress to the next round of matches involving top four teams before concluding at the final to be held on May 28 in Chennai.
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