The best T20 player of all time, Chris Gayle, expressed his “disappointment” with the way his former team, the Punjab Kings, handled the dismissal of Mayank Agarwal as captain, saying the organization has the propensity to make “crazy levels” of personnel changes. Midway through the IPL, 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 Kings in preparation for the IPL auction.
Last season, Mayank, who had been a reliable player for the squad, fell short of expectations, scoring just 196 runs in 13 games. Finally, Punjab’s fourth consecutive sixth-place result highlighted their unpredictability. They have only made it to the finals once in 2014 and have yet to win the IPL championship. Speaking to PTI, Gayle claimed that the franchise had not treated Agarwal fairly and predicted a huge payoff 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.
“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 ahead of IPL auctions. The numerous IPL teams that the 43-year-old Gayle has played for include Punjab. His career began with KKR, but his best years were spent with RCB. He then played for Punjab Kings.
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 under pressure, so (with that sort of approach) you end up putting more excessive pressure and with that you won’t see them flourishing within the game.”
