Chris Gayle is arguably the greatest T20 player of all time, and definitely one of the best to have ever played in the IPL. However, he is in the twilight of his career now and it remains uncertain for how long he will continue playing professional cricket. Although he is still plying his trade in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and going well there as well, but his name is not in BCCI’s shortlist for the upcoming IPL mega auction.
While there has been no official word from Chris Gayle himself regarding the reason why he is not there in the IPL mega auction this time around, the reports suggest that with no guarantee to get a bid in the auction and with no guarantee of a certain spot in the playing XI even if he gets a bid, Gayle probably didn’t want to be in a managed environment where players couldn’t step out of the bio bubble.
Chris Gayle was bought by Punjab Kings in the last mega auction, but he was not a guaranteed pick in their playing XI in the last couple of seasons. There were many games where he had to be out of the playing XI and the Caribbean left-hander had withdrawn himself from the tournament midway through last season when Punjab had no chance of qualifying to the playoffs.
Chris Gayle is still active in other leagues apart from IPL
With two new teams in the mega auction this time, Gayle would have probably got a bid or two even at this stage of his career now, because he is still capable of playing a match-winning innings every now and then, but there was never going to be a guarantee that he would necessarily be in the playing XI of the team he goes to.
Apart from IPL, Gayle is still very much active playing in other leagues around the world because in most of the leagues, he is a guaranteed pick in the playing XI.
