West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle has been conspicuously missing from the Kings XI Punjab team that is currently languishing at the bottom of the points table in the ongoing Indian Premier League. It turns out Gayle is yet to recover from a stomach infection that has kept him away from the field and confined to a hospital bed.
The ‘Universe Boss’ on Saturday shared a photo from his hospital bed where he looked relaxed, holding a wine glass on one hand, a phone receiver on the other, with cucumber slices on his eyes and a piece of carrot in his mouth.
“I can tell you this!!! I will never go down without a fight!! I Am The #UniverseBoss - That will never changed!! You can learn from me...but its not everything I do you should follow!! Don’t forget my style and flare too!! #LivingDiLife #Always 🇯🇲 Thanks for all your concerns peeps, much appreciated (sic),” he captioned the picture, adding that he was indeed on a phone call.
It was revealed earlier by KXIP head coach Anil Kumble ahead of their match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday that Gayle was down with food poisoning.
“Chris Gayle was going to play today’s match but he is sick. He is down with food poisoning that’s why he isn’t in the playing eleven,” Kumble had said.
While it was expected that Gayle would be part of the team in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday, fans were in for another round of disappointment as the 41-year-old cricketer was still abed due to illness.
The team and its dedicated fans are hoping that Gayle makes it back to the playing eleven soon after KXIP lost their sixth game in seven matches.
However, as much as Gayle is itching to get back on the field, he has been busy making small videos and posting stories on his Instagram account about his time in the hospital.
In one such story, he shows the room in which he is recuperating, with the note, “The struggle is real…”
In other videos, he wished one of his doctors a happy birthday, and also thanked all the doctors and nurses who were taking care of him.