BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – Batsman Chris Gayle on Wednesday contended he was left with no choice but to ply his trade in the lucrative Indian Premier League after the West Indies Cricket Board displayed an indifferent attitude to his recovery from injury and subsequent selection for the Pakistan series.
Speaking in a typically candid interview on the Jamaica radio station KLAS FM, the giant left-hander said he had been forced to pay all of his medical bills for the treatment for his injury while in Britain for two days, and asserted he had not been contacted by the WICB on his fitness status.
He said when he returned to Jamaica from Britain, he started a rehabilitative training programme aimed at working himself back into full fitness, and said it was he who contacted West Indies team physio C.J. Clark to update him.
“I stayed back in England, went to the doctor and sorted out everything. Paid for my own accommodation … paid for my doctor bills, paid my taxi bills to find out exactly what was wrong with me,” an emotional Gayle said in a telephone interview from India.
“I came back to Jamaica and took it on myself again to get treatment. A group of players were selected for a training camp in Barbados, and I never got a call, nobody spoke to me, and I decided to leave it alone.
“The only communication that happened (with the WICB) was with the physio CJ Clark on my BBM (BlackBerry messenger) when I messaged him and gave him an update.
“I told him I was feeling good, the progress I was making, I was running, I was in the gym, and working. His only response was that he would send a fitness programme, which I did not receive until the IPL offer had presented itself.”
Gayle, who will turn out for Royal Challengers Bangalore for the remainder of the IPL, said at no time was he contacted by the WICB as to his involvement in the Pakistan series.
As a result, when the IPL offer came in, he said he was forced to look after his own interests even though he had been intent on representing West Indies.
“I was forced to make this decision based on what was happening around me, based on what has happened to current players who are (Ramnaresh) Sarwan and (Shiv) Chanderpaul, so I was forced to make that decision.
“I wanted to play, I wanted to represent West Indies. That was my ultimate goal. But based on what was happening I was forced to make the decision to come to India to participate in the IPL.
“An opportunity presented itself, I didn’t know what was going to happen. A T20 squad was named, an ODI squad was named, Chris Gayle wasn’t informed as to what was happening (and) I didn’t know what the future held.
“Two games (ODIs against Pakistan) can play, guys do well and Chris Gayle still would be sitting out. I didn’t have a choice but to take the contract that presented itself.”
Gayle’s comments came on the heels of a statement from the WICB who said early Wednesday they were disappointed that the player had made himself unavailable for the Pakistan series.
In a media release, the Board said they were “surprised” Gayle had taken up the IPL contract as they had been under the impression that he was still recovering from injury.
The WICB added that when Gayle had resumed training, he would have been put through a fitness test to determine if he could face selection.
Gayle, however, said that when he saw media reports that he, Sarwan and Chanderpaul had been dropped, he became worried especially since he had not heard from the WICB.
“I saw a big headline ‘Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul dropped’ so that kind of worried me now … no one had the decency to actually call me and ask me anything,” Gayle contended.
“If they had me as their interest, they could have called me down to the camp, assessed me and made their decisions from there.”