Chris Gayle claims he wasn't treated 'properly' in IPL; vows to return in 2023

West Indies opening batsman Chris Gayle has revealed the reason for opting out of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL 2022) and has declared that he would return to the Twenty20 tournament in 2023.

The 42-year-old Jamaican is seventh on the list of most runs in IPL history. In 142 matches, he scored 4,965 runs with six hundreds. He holds the record for most sixes in IPL history – 357, and is also the owner of the highest individual score (175) in the league.

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Gayle played for three franchises between 2009 and 2021 – Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

For the first time since 2009, he is not part of the IPL as the tournament is being played in Mumbai and Pune. He did not enter the players’ auction. His last IPL game was for Punjab against Mumbai Indians (MI) on September 28, 2021 in Abu Dhabi. He was dismissed for just one run off four balls.

Speaking to The Mirror in London, Gayle said he was “not treated properly” in the last couple of years at the IPL.

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“For the last couple of years, the way the IPL went about, I felt like I wasn’t treated properly,” the left-handed batsman told The Mirror.

“So I thought ‘okay, you (Gayle) didn’t get the respect you deserved after you did so much for the sport and IPL.’ So I said ‘okay, that’s it, I’m not going to bother to enter the draft,’ so I left it as it is. There is always going to life after cricket so I’m just trying to adapt to normality,” he added.

“Next year I’m coming back, they need me!” he chuckled.

Further, he stated that he wants to win an IPL title with Bangalore or Punjab. “I’ve represented three teams in the IPL, Kolkata, RCB and Punjab. Between RCB and Punjab, I would love to get a title, with one of those two teams. I had a great stint with RCB where I was more successful within the IPL, and Punjab, they’ve been good. I love to explore and I love challenges so let’s see what happens.”

In Gayle’s IPL career, twice he had gone unsold in the auction in 2011 and 2018. However, in 2011, RCB picked him as a replacement player for the injured Dirk Nannes for nearly Rs 3 crore, and in 2018, he was signed up at the last minute for Rs 2 crore by Punjab.