The greatest T20 player of all time, Chris Gayle, expressed his “disappointment” with the way his former team, Punjab, handled the situation of Mayank Agarwal as captain, saying the organisation has the propensity to make “ridiculous levels” of personnel changes.
Midway through the Indian T20 League 2022, Mayank, who had given up his opening spot to make room for Jonny Bairstow to replace Shikhar Dhawan at the top, was let go by Punjab in preparation for the upcoming auction.
Speaking to PTI, Gayle claimed that the franchise had not treated Agarwal fairly and predicted a sizable payday for him at the auction on Friday. “Mayank will definitely get picked. I would be very disappointed if he doesn’t. Because he is such an explosive player,” Gayle said.
“He has probably hurt within himself at not being retained by Punjab after what he sacrificed for the franchise and to be treated like that is disappointing but I hope teams still believe in him and give him good money. He is a fantastic team man as well,” said Gayle in an interaction arranged by Jio Cinema.
Gayle claimed that Punjab’s inconsistency over time was a result of an unsteady starting eleven. “They chop and change man, it is ridiculous. You keep chopping and changing, they never have a set eleven whether you win a match. Sometimes they would go with the same team but so often players don’t feel comfortable (with too many changes). When they do get a chance and IPL is already pressure, so (with that sort of approach) you end putting more excessive pressure and with that, you won’t see them flourishing within the game,” he said.
He has had a good run of late: Chris Gayle
Gayle thinks Sam Curran could end up being the costliest player ever to be purchased at the auction. Chris Morris, who is now retired, was the most expensive player to date after selling for Rs 16.25 crore in 2021.
“I don’t know why they are calling those names just give me the money man (laughs). I am going be pick Sam (out of all). He is young and IPL tends to look to the future and you have to look at availability. He has had a good run of late. Stokes played well in the World Cup final,” he said.
