‘Until further notice’
Gayle yet to confirm whether he played his last match
Although he has not confirmed it, Chris Gayle seemed to have played his last international cricket match and if he did, it was in typical Gayle fashion.
The powerful left hander blasted 72 from 41 balls to help the West Indies to a competitive total against India in the rain-affected third and final ODI at the Queens Park Oval yesterday.
Gayle indicated that he would have retired after the recently concluded Cricket World Cup but reneged on that commitment after the competition finished.
But yesterday there were fresh signs the Jamaican may have played his last game for the West Indies as he wore a specially made jersey with 301, the number of matches he has played, in the back instead of his usual number 45.
And when he was out, he was greeted by all the Indian players with handshakes.
IN LIMBO
When asked by reporters if he had played his last match, this was how he responded: “Until further notice”.
Gayle, who came into the second one-day international (ODI) of the three-match series on 10,396 runs – nine off Brian Lara’s total, surpassed the Trinidadian tally of 10,405 after he posted 11 runs from 24 balls to lift his overall tally to 10,408.
But though Gayle showed why he is in limbo as to whether he should continue playing or not, Indian captain Virat Kohli showed why his side is miles ahead of the Caribbean team.
Kohli stroked his second successive hundred and 43rd of his career to spearhead a remarkable run chase and send West Indies tumbling to a six-wicket defeat under Duckworth-Lewis-Stern.
Set a daunting 255 for victory off just 35 overs after rain had caused an earlier three-hour break during West Indies’ innings, India effortlessly chased down the target with 15 balls to spare, to take the series 2-0 and condemn the hosts to their 13th defeat in 22 ODIs this year.
Further, West Indies have now won only four of their last 21 ODIs against India, and their latest defeat keeps them winless on the current tour after suffering a 3-0 whitewash in the preceding Twenty20 series.
Kohli laid the centre of India’s brilliance, carving out quite a superb unbeaten 114 off 99 deliveries to follow up his 120 in last Sunday’s second ODI also at the Queen’s Park Oval, and clinch the Man-of-the-Match and Man-of-the-Series awards.
Gayle, who came into the second one-day international (ODI) of the three-match series on 10,396 runs – nine off Brian Lara’s
total, surpassed the Trinidadian tally of 10,405 after he posted 11 runs from
24 balls to lift his overall tally to 10,408.