Though the coronavirus has forced to stop the daily busy life of the world, the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) franchise St Lucia Zouks has secured the deal of Chris Gayle after Jamaica Tallawahs released him from the squad.
The CPL 2020 has the schedule to run between 19th August and 26th September 2020. Though the coronavirus pandemic has disturbed the sports world, the CPL committee still believes that the CPL 2020 can be organised on time. However, the tournament organisers are monitoring the entire situation and will make the future decision according to the situation.
Meanwhile, the most run-scorer of CPL history, Chris Gayle has been released by Jamaica Tallawahs. The 40-year-old left-handed batsman has signed a fresh contract for St Lucia Zouks for the upcoming CPL season.
I welcome Chris Gayle to the Zouks franchise: St Lucia Zouks captain Darren Sammy
In last February, KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited, the parent company of the Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), bought the St Lucia franchise. While Gayle is currently a KXIP player since IPL 2018, he will now serve for the St Lucia Zouks in the forthcoming CPL season.
St Lucia captain Darren Sammy said according to ESPNcricinfo, “This is great news for St Lucia Zouks and for me as a captain to have the ‘Universe Boss’ on my side. Chris is one of the most successful T20 batsmen in the world and with his experience with our young openers, a lot can be learnt from Chris. I welcome him to the Zouks franchise. Chris will be in St Lucia and the fans will be happy that Jamaica has released him.”
“I will have a motivated Chris Gayle looking to prove a point that he is one of the leading T20 batsmen in the world. I can’t wait for CPL 2020 and hopefully, the coronavirus will be under control and we can have an exciting T20 tournament.”
The St Lucia Zouks haven’t won a CPL trophy yet. Their best record in the CPL history is finishing in the fourth position in the CPL 2016 where they were eliminated from the Qualifier 1.
The most T20 run-scorer and CPL run-scorer Chris Gayle earlier played for Jamaica Tallawahs and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the CPL history. The left-handed batsman has scored 2354 runs in 76 CPL match (average 39.23), including four centuries and 13 half-centuries. Also, the off-spinner has taken 11 wickets in CPL career.
In the last CPL season (2019), Jamaica Tallawahs captain Gayle scored 243 runs in ten matches (average 24.30 and strike-rate 139.65) and finished as the second-most run-scorer for his team in that tournament. Apart from scoring a century, Gayle mostly failed to play big knocks in that edition.