Chris Gayle demands respect after exiting South Africa T20
40-year-old endures poor season for Mzansi Super League team Jozi Stars
Paris: West Indies cricketing hero Chris Gayle demanded more respect on Monday after waving goodbye to South Africa’s Mzansi Super League with his team Jozi Stars yet to win a game in the current campaign.
Former West Indies captain Gayle, 40, scored just 101 runs in six innings before his stormy departure from a disastrous season for defending champions Stars in the Twenty20 championship.
“As soon as I don’t perform for two or three games, then Chris Gayle is the burden for the team,” said Gayle, who plans to take the rest of the season off.
“I am not talking for this team only,” added Gayle, who has played for a multitude of sides over his 20-year career.
“This is something I have analysed over the years playing franchise cricket. Chris Gayle is always a burden if I don’t score runs.
“It seems like that one particular individual is the burden for the team. And then you will hear bickering.
I am not going to get respect. People don’t remember what you have done for them. I don’t get respect.”
Stars have lost all six of their matches so far in this year’s MSL, while Gayle had struck just 47 runs in his first five matches.
However he hit 54 off 28 balls in his final match for the Stars, which was also his 400th T20 appearance, as his team lost from a winning position against Spartans.
They are unsurprisingly bottom of the MSL zero points, a whopping 19 behind league leaders Nelson Mandela Bay Giants.