Written By: Nirmalya Dutta | Updated : May 13, 2014 10:40 AM IST
Update: According to a tweet by ESPNcricinfo, Gayle has not been ruled out for the rest of the IPL season.
"RCB quashes speculation over Gayle's fitness and availability for the rest of the IPL. "He is not ruled out and no replacement is sought."
ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) May 12, 2014
RCB quashes speculation over Gayle's fitness and availability for the rest of the IPL. "He is not ruled out and no replacement is sought." ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) May 12, 2014 Chris Gayle, the big hitting West Indian batsman is set to miss the rest of the Indian Premier League after injuring his shoulder reports Cricbuzz. The big hitting batsman, who's had problems with his back and hamstring, suffered the latest setback against Rajasthan Royals at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, on Sunday and looks set to miss the rest of the season.
The big Jamaican dived at backward point to stop a shot from Ajinkya Rahane from going to the boundary and suffered an injury for his troubles and had to leave the field. Reports suggest that he was taken to a hospital for an X-ray.
Gayle missed the first four games in the UAE due to a sore back and hasn't lived up to his usual mercurial standards in this edition of the IPL, with scores of 20, 27, 38, 4 and 19 in the five matches he played for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Gayle's injury will be a big blow to RCB who have been struggling this season with only three wins from nine games. They only have five more matches remaining. Gayle's the second player to be ruled out after New South Wales batsman Nic Maddinson was ruled out after injuring his finger and the IPL Event Technical Committee approved South African batsman Rilee Russow as his replacement. RCB have the option to bring in a replacement for Gayle and get one of the players who registered for the 2014 auction but were unsold.
Incidentally, Gayle was part of our poll of fittest IPL players and was actually second in the rankings behind Virat Kohli (42%) with 13% of the votes. Not many in the history of world cricket, can hit a cricket ball as powerfully as Christopher Henry Gayle does. When asked about how he generated so much power, Gayle told DNA, 'A good cricket bat and a nice workout in the gym is all you need. You need to build your muscles, work on your intensity and hit balls in the nets. It won't happen overnight, though.' As for his diet, the RCB batsman loves his pasta and believes in a good healthy breakfast.
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