- Chris Gayle says he is looking forward to visiting Lahore
- Gayle is confident that Quetta Gladiators will bounce back
- West Indian batsman is hoping that when he returns there will be a full house in the stadiums
KARACHI: Explosive batsman Chris Gayle has left for West Indies to join his national side for the series against Sri Lanka, but he has said he’ll be back for the Lahore’s leg of the PSL tournament.
Gayle scored 39 and 68 for Quetta Gladiators in his two games against Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars respectively, both in a losing cause before leaving his PSL side for national duties.
“It is sad to leave because I wanted to play the full PSL. That’s the reason why I actually put my name up because I wanted to come here and dominate the PSL. I wanted to give the fans something to cheer about after I’ve been to Pakistan to like 15 years,” he said in a post-match interview to media.
“Unfortunately, I have to leave for international duties but Lahore is there and that’s the second stage of second round. So you know still a lot of cricket to play so I’m looking forward to actually you know visit Lahore as well,” he said.
An official of Quetta Gladiators confirmed to Geo that Gayle is likely to return to the team’s dugout once the Lahore leg of the PSL starts.
Gayle, while expressing delight on his own performance, showed disappointment at his team’s result in the two PSL games but hoped that the Gladiators will fight back.
“This is not what we wanted but it’s early stage in a tournament so they can actually pick themselves up, rebound, forget about these two games and come back strongly. We just have to be positive, we are two down but hopefully we’ll be back,” the West Indian cricketer said about Quetta’s campaign in PSL6.
He also hoped to see a full house in later stages of PSL and people chanting players’ name during an encounter between a batsman and a bowler.
“I would love that buzz, that’s fantastic to see a full house everyone chanting a name. It gives me goosebumps and it gives you a boost in cricket as well. Hopefully, we can get to that stage and you have a full house and in everybody chanting good quality bowlers running in to you so it’s going to be a good battle as well and we give them something to be entertained,” Gayle said.
Talking about Quetta Gladiators’ match against the Lahore Qalandars which the former champions lost by nine wickets, Gayle said his side was 20 runs short at the end of the innings but didn’t fall short of giving credit to Lahore’s bowlers who got two quick wickets to stop Gladiators from an aggressive start.