Legends of Sports

Chris Gayle's scenario of representing the West Indies again look grimmer than ever after he was left out of the WICB's 30-man squad for a fitness and training camp ahead of the home series against Australia. While the squad feature a host of other players not contracted directly to the WICB - Tino Best, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Denesh Ramdin among them - 32-year-old Gayle was noticeable by his absence.

Gayle has not played for the West Indies since last year's World Cup, in large part due to comments he made against the board and the coach Ottis Gibson during a radio interview. The WICB asked Gayle to retract his explanation and the batsman has refused to do so. In the meantime, Gayle has taken part in various Twenty20 contest around the world, including the IPL, the Big Bash League in Australia and the BPL in Bangladesh.

He is currently in South Africa as part of the Dolphins' T20 squad in Durban, but is yet to make his debut due to a groin injury. The other notable absentee from the training squad was Ravi Rampaul, who was unable to be considered for the camp due to illness. Rampaul had earlier this month been ruled out of local matches for Trinidad and Tobago due to a shoulder problem.

Royal Challengers Bangalore has finally managed to retain the explosive Chris Gayle in their squad for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League. Gayle, one of T20 cricket's biggest draws, came in as replacement for Dirk Nannes last season and helped the team to the final. Gayle was on a one-year contract with the Vijay Mallya-owned franchisee. He had not been picked at the last auction because of a lack of clarity on his availability. However, RCB mentor Anil Kumble pulled off a coup of sorts by signing him on mid-season and Gayle promptly turned the club's fortunes around.

With his signing, or re-signing, with RCB having been in limbo for a while, most of the teams were banking on his availability at the February auction. According to IPL rules, RCB, though, had first right of refusal and the deal was clinched with just one day left for the transfer window to close. RCB were able to retain Gayle, who was being chased most by Mumbai Indians, only after they bought out the contract of South African batsman Jonathan Vandiar.

IPL rules allow each team to sign a total of 11 foreigners only, one up from last season, and now Vandiar must come back into the IPL fray through the auction if he so chooses. Last season Gayle had been signed on for $560,000 and that's the price he will officially continue to get. This, of course, means RCB will go into the auction with that amount deducted from the total purse of $2 million. Sources hinted that Gayle would earn "much, much more" for support purposes.

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Chris Gayle continues to ignore on West Indies selection and is not part of the 13-man squad for the third one-dayer against India. Gayle has been out of favour with the West Indies Cricket Board since his controversial radio interview and was not selected for the first two one-dayers. The board has reiterated that since it has not been able to meet Gayle yet, he has again not been considered for selection.

There are two changes to the squad that was selected for the first two ODIs. Dwayne Bravo's request to be given a break has been approved and Jamaica batsman Danza Hyatt - who played in the only Twenty20 against India - has been selected in his place. Kemar Roach has return to the squad to replace Rampaul.

Adrian Barath, the opener, will spend a week working at the Sagicor High Performance Centre undergoing practice in order to be considered for selection for the Test series against India starting on June 20 in Jamaica. Barath has been undergoing treatment after suffering a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the 2011 World Cup.

West Indies squad: Darren Sammy (capt), Carlton Baugh (wk), Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Kirk Edwards, Danza Hyatt, Anthony Martin, Kieron Pollard, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons

Chris Gayle was on Monday left out of the squads announced for the lone Twenty20 and the first two one-dayers against India starting June 4. "Chris Gayle will not be measured for selection to the West Indies team before an intended meeting with himself, the Selection Committee, the WICB management and the West Indies Team Management," the WICB said in a statement.

An angry WICB retorted by saying that the batsman was well looked after and it was he who kept the Board ignorant while flying out to India to play in the IPL for eventual runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore. The 31-year-old Gayle was the star of the recently-concluded Twenty20 league finishing as the top-scorer with 608 runs, including a couple of hundreds.

Twenty20 squad: Lendl Simmons, Andre Fletcher (wk), Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Danza Hyatt, Darren Sammy (capt), Christopher Barnwell, Andre Russell, Ashley Nurse, Devendra Bishoo, Ravi Rampaul, Krishmar Santokie.

Squad for first two ODIs: Lendl Simmons, Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy (capt), Carlton Baugh (wk), Andre Russell, Anthony Martin, Devendra Bishoo, Ravi Rampaul.

The achievement of Chris Gayle and Royal Challengers Bangalore went hand in hand on yet another occasion. But the home side's convincing eight-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings, which made them table-toppers in IPL 4 league stage, was not about Gayle magic alone. The hard-hitting Jamaican scored his third half-century of the IPL edition, embellishing his unbeaten 75-run knock (50b) with six sixes and four boundaries but Chennai's agony was planted and watered way before, thanks to an inspiring RCB bowling.

Even a blazing 40-ball 70 by CSK skipper MS Dhoni couldn't stop RCB. RCB skipper Daniel Vettori and pace ace Zaheer Khan returned to the eleven and more importantly made their presence felt to restrict the defending champions to 128/8 on a good batting track. Three of the four CSK batsmen at the top of the tree gifted their wickets with loose strokes even as the discipline and attitude shown by Zaheer (2-19), Vettori (2-14) and S Arvind (2-20) ensured persistent pressure on the opponents.

The task to resurrect the CSK innings was thrust on skipper Dhoni, not for the first time in the season. After splicing up a 42-run stand in company of Wriddhiman Saha for the fifth wicket, Dhoni reserved his best for last with yet another display of impeccable power-hitting. The right-hander bludgeoned six of the seven sixes that covered the CSK total, all big hits coming in the concluding half of the innings.

English batsman Kevin Pietersen on Tuesday said he admires watching Virender Sehwag and Chris Gayle bat as they are the two batsmen, who can alone change the course of any game. Talking about his choice of game changers, Pietersen said: "There are few players who I look up to as game changers. Indian opener Virender Sehwag is one of them.""When he takes the field as an opponent you know that in the next 10-15 overs of a Test match or an ODI, the man is skilled of turning the game around."



"The other guy who impresses me to the core is West Indian opener Chris Gayle. He does a similar job as Sehwag.""These are the two guys I love to watch and play against."Pietersen, who was the first cricketer to use the modern cricketing shot "switch-hit" in 2008, said he always wants to enjoy the game and make it more interesting for the viewers. He said: "Over the years Cricket has evolved to a great extent and I am just being part of the evolution."

"Inventing new things keeps the fun alive not only for the players but for the fans as well.""With today's stiff contest, surprising your opponent with unexpected actions comes in very handy.""I spend hours and hours in the nets, practicing switch hit, trying to perfect it. I have perfected it a couple of times in the game. But yes, it's something new, something fresh. It's a game changing shot."