Gayle vows IPL return next year

Hard-hitting Twenty20 batsman, Chris Gayle has vowed to return to the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2023 after opting out this year because of what he said was a lack of respect.

And the 42-year-old Jamaican T20 star, who has played for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Punjab Kings since starting with the IPL in 2009, is hoping to win the title with one of those franchises.

“Next year I’m coming back,” he said in interview with the UK  Mirror.

“For the last couple years, the way the IPL went about, I feel that I wasn’t treated properly,” he told the Mirror in explaining his absence from the 2022 competition.

This is the first time Gayle has skipped the tournament since beginning his IPL  career 13 years ago.

The left-handed batter has played a total of 142 matches, amassing 4,965 runs that included six centuries and hitting 31 half centuries and taking 18 wickets with right-arm bowling. Gayle struck the most sixes in IPL history (357).