Key West Indies players, including Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy and Kieron Pollard are missing from the Test team, making the 4-match series against India a no-contest.
Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar and former India skipper Sourav Ganguly have said that the inclusion of these T20 stars would have made it a more even contest.
Ganguly had expressed shock at the fact that these players are currently representing their T20 franchises in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League (CPL) tournament.
<img title="Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo celebrate the fall of an English wicket during the World T20 final. Pic/PTI" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/apr/windies3apr.jpg" alt="Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo celebrate the fall of an English wicket during the World T20 final. Pic/PTI" width="670" height="446" /> Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo celebrate the fall of an English wicket during the World T20 final. Pic/PTI
The fact that players like Gayle and Bravo are opting for lucrative franchise deals across the world to play T20 cricket than playing Test matches for their nation has reignited the club vs country debate.
But it not always about players opting for franchise-based cricket. Sometimes, it is also the board policy that affects the composition of a team. For instance, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has a rule of selecting cricketers for Tests only on the basis of their availability in their domestic four-day competition.
Now, with Gayle, Bravo and the others playing in lucrative leagues like Big Bash and IPL, it's unlikely for them to be available for the local competition and thus they become ineligible for selection for the national team.
So while the way the Windies second-string team is surrendering against the Indians may make for boring Test cricket, it's also true that it's not because of lack of talent in the Caribbean.
Gayle recently posted something on social media that expressed his anguish at not being in the Test squad.
The 36-year-old explosive opener posted on Facebook and Instagram that he wasn't a former Test player and that he's hadn't retired yet from the longer format of the game.
Clearly, Gayle was hinting at the fact that he hadn't been picked despite being available for selection.
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="7">
<div style="padding: 8px;">
<div style="background: #F8F8F8; line-height: 0; margin-top: 40px; padding: 50.0% 0; text-align: center; width: 100%;">&nbsp;</div>
<a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BIggATNDkUl/" target="_blank">Yo Sammy, I ain't no former Test player. Me nuh retire. Lol</a>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A photo posted by KingGayle &eth;u00c2u009fu00c2u0091u00c2u0091 (@chrisgayle333) onJul 30, 2016 at 6:42pm PDT
</div>
</blockquote>
This is the same guy who in 2009 against Australia, batted almost seven-and-a-half hours in scoring an unbeaten 165 to save the Test in Adelaide. In the very next game, he smashed the fifth-fastest Test century - off 70 balls - to indicate that he was still the 'Gayle storm'. In 2010, he batted almost ten hours and scored 333 against Sri Lanka and Muttiah Muralitharan in Galle to become only the fourth batsman to score two triples in Tests, thus proving again his ability to bat long periods.
Gayle, who has been in trouble time and again for hitting out at the West Indian Cricket Board,&nbsp;hasn't played a Test in September 2014 against&nbsp;Bangladesh at Kingstown.
Gayle along with other senior West Indies cricketers Bravo and Sammy had taken to Twitter to lambast the WICB selectors for ignoring them for the ODI tri-series involving Australia and South Africa in June 2016.

Chris Gayle, who has been in trouble before for hitting out at the West Indian Cricket Board, seemed to be taking on the selectors again by suggesting that he wasn't picked for the Test series against India despite being available

Is Chris Gayle taking a dig at WICB selectors again?

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Home / Sports / Cricket / Article / Is Chris Gayle taking a dig at WICB selectors again?

Is Chris Gayle taking a dig at WICB selectors again?

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast