Gayle: I did not announce my retirement

‘UNIVERSE Boss’ Chris Gayle teased his millions of fans around the world about his retirement from One Day International Cricket, saying he is available to play for the West Indies until further notice.

There has been speculation that yesterday’s One Day International against India was the Jamaican’s last match for West Indies in the format.

In a video posted on the Windies Cricket Twitter page, Gayle was asked if he is retiring from ODI cricket.

Gayle said, “I did not announce any retirement.” Asked if he is still available for WI duty he replied, “Yeah until you hear further notice.”

Gayle initially said that he would retire from ODI cricket after the ICC 50-over World Cup that ended one month ago. However, Gayle changed his mind and said he wanted to play against India in the Caribbean. The three-match ODI series was completed yesterday and questions were being asked if that was his last ODI for West Indies.

Those who turned out at the Queen’s Park Oval yesterday, had more reason to think that was his last ODI. When he was dismissed all the Indian players went over to Gayle to shake his hand and the opener raised his bat and the fans gave him a standing ovation.

India captain Virat Kohli said he was fortunate to know Gayle not only as a destructive opening batsman, but as a fun-loving friendly person who was always willing to share his wealth of knowledge.

Kohli said, “I would like to congratulate him for a great career playing for West Indies. He is done so much for West Indies cricket and he is an icon all over the world, one of the nicest human beings around.

“That for me is his biggest quality, everybody knows about his cricket but (I know) the kind of person he is. He is so helpful with the youngsters and so fun-loving and smiling.

“Even in the most pressure situations he is always smiling, so for me Chris Gayle the person is the best part of him.

“The cricket everyone knows, but I have been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with him as a friend and get to know him as a person and he is a gem of a human being, so I think he could be really proud of that firstly.”