New recruit Chris Gayle hits back at West Indies

Chris Gayle, the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman, yesterday claimed he was frozen out by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and was left with no option but to choose the Indian Premier League (IPL) over national team duty.

The former West Indies captain added that he was forced to accept an offer to play for Bangalore because he was not sure about his place in the West Indies team, after being dropped for the opening matches of Pakistan's tour.

West Indies officials reacted angrily to Gayle's decision, and said they were less than pleased with the manner in which the he handled the situation. They begrudgingly gave him a no-objection certificate (NOC) to participate in the IPL.

But a few hours later Gayle criticised the WICB, saying that he had paid all expenses for medical treatment in the United Kingdom before returning home to Jamaica, where he took it upon himself to commence a rehabilitation programme with his personal trainer.

"A group of players were selected for a training camp in Barbados, and I never got a call, nobody spoke to me, and I decided to leave it alone," Gayle said in an hour-long interview on Jamaican radio station, KLAS Sports.

"I came to find out via the media that a Twenty20 squad was announced, and a one-day international squad was announced."

"The matches could be played, and other players do well, and I could still be sitting on the sidelines, so I had no other choice," the opening batsman added.

Gayle said when he requested the NOC from the WICB, there was a hive of activity, and correspondence from various officials was coming left, right, and centre. "All of a sudden, everybody got energy, and they were trying to contact me," he said.

* Agence France-Presse