West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle has pulled out of this year’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) citing personal reasons, according to ESPNCricinfo. Gayle said that due to the lockdown imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, he was in Jamaica and was not able to meet his family who are in St Kitts.
Gayle has informed his CPL team St Lucia Zouks about his decision. He had earlier played with the Jamaica Tallawahs, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the league before St Lucia Zouks picked him up in April as one of the marquee players this year.
“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 ESPNCricinfo.
The 40-year-old cricketer ruffled a few feather earlier this year when he called his former teammate Ramnaresh Sarwan a “snake” and “worse than coronavirus” for his role in Gayle’s fallout with the Tallawahs. Gayle was with the Tallawahs for four seasons and had won the CPL title twice with the franchise.
Gayle is also the leading CPL run-scorer of all time, with 2,344 runs in the tournament to his name.
The Caribbean Premier League is scheduled to be played behind closed doors in August and September in Trinidad and Tobago.
