Chris Gayle to miss Caribbean Premier League 2020
The reason behind Gayle’s absence is his desire to be with his family. Due to the Covid-19, Gayle was in Jamaica and wasn’t able to meet his family and young kid, who are in St. Kitts.
The big-hitting Chris Gayle will not be turning up for the 2020 edition of the Caribbean Premier League. Gayle informed CPL franchise St. Lucia Zouks of his unavailability on Monday – a report in ESPNCricinfo stated – two day before the player’s draft is supposed to take place.
The reason behind Gayle’s absence is his desire to be with his family. Due to the Covid-19, Gayle was in Jamaica and wasn’t able to meet his family and young kid, who are in St. Kitts. St Lucia Zouks could have been the third franchise Gayle turned up for, having represented St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and Jamaica Tallawahs in the past.
“We understand that Chris has decided to not take part in CPL personal reasons. We wish Chris all the best for the rest of 2020 and hope to see him back at CPL in 2021,” a CPL spokesperson was quoted as saying by the website.
After his release from Tallawahs, Gayle signed with the Zouks in April as their marquee player for the 2020 CPL. The leading run-scorer in the history of CPL, Gayle was with the Tallawahs for the first four seasons and won the title twice before moving to SKN for two years. However, last year, he returned to the Tallawahs and struck a hundred although it was in a losing cause.
Gayle’s Zouks deal could be linked to the fact that the KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited, who owns IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab, whom the West Indies batsman is a part of, acquired the SLZ franchise in CPL.