Indian Premier League’s (IPL) now-defunct franchise — Pune Warriors India (PWI) were on the cusp of signing Chris Gayle in 2011 but their head coach, Geoff Marsh opposed the move to avail the services of Windies swashbuckling opener. Abhijit Sarkar, the then PWI director revealed that Gayle’s move was stalled because of his lack of discipline.
The Pune Warriors side had a three-year stint in the IPL in which they didn’t had a good time. Chris Gayle remained unsold in the IPL 2011 auction until later Royal Challengers Bangalore picked him out of the blue.
The southpaw Chris Gayle went on to win the orange cap in 2011 on scoring 608 runs in 12 appearances he made for the Bangalore-based side, after missing the initial five matches of the campaign.
‘No no, he is not a disciplined guy: PWI coach Geoff Marsh
PWI director Abhijit Sarkar said he had proposed the possibility of replacing Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews, who was ruled out of IPL 2011 due to a leg injury with Chris Gayle.
However, coach Geoff Marsh rejected the proposal saying Gayle was too undisciplined to be handled and would ruin the atmosphere of the team.
“So, it came in my mind when we did a conference call with both the coaches, our manager, who were associated with us – everybody together. So naturally the name [that] came [up] was [Chris Gayle]…‘why not take Chris Gayle as replacement for Angelo Mathews?’” said Sarkar in an interview with Sportskeeda.
“Geoff Marsh immediately opposed it. He said, ‘No no, he is not a disciplined guy, he will make the atmosphere of the team very bad, it will be very difficult to control the team…I am not in favour of taking Chris Gayle.’ We tried to convince him but he said no,” Sarkar further revealed.
KXIP’s Bid To Win The IPL 2020
Chris Gayle’s form would be a key for Punjab’s campaign this year. KXIP started off both 2018 and 2019 campaigns strong but lost track in the later stages and failed to book a place in the playoffs.
Kings XI have made some strong decisions this year, with letting Captain Ashwin leave, KL Rahul will captain the side this season. The IPL 2020 will begin from September 19 till November 10, a total 53-day campaign will see all the eight teams play in UAE.