Chris Gayle to retire from ODI cricket after 2019 World Cup
Former West Indies captain and swashbuckling opener Chris Gayle announced that he will retire from one-day internationals after the 2019 ICC World Cup in England and Wales later this year.
"WINDIES batsman Chris Gayle has announced he will retire from One-day Internationals following the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 England & Wales," West Indies cricket tweeted on its official Twitter account.
Gayle, who was away from ODIs for a while, was recalled into the Windies squad for the first two ODIs of the five-match series against England at home.
The Universe Boss last played an ODI at home last year in July against Bangladesh.
"We welcome the return of Chris Gayle who missed the last two series and Ashley Nurse from injury. We are pleased to introduce Nicholas Pooran to the ODI squad for the first time. He is clearly a young player with undoubted talent and we believe he can add value to our middle order," said Windies' Chairman of Selectors, Courtney Browne, according to Windies Cricket on February 7th.
Gayle has so far played 284 ODIs and scored 9727 runs at an average of 37.12. His tally of runs in ODIs is only second to Brian Lara, who has 10,405 runs from 299 matches for the Caribbean nation.
The southpaw has also slammed 23 hundreds and 49 half-centuries since making his debut in fifty-over cricket at Toronto in 1999 against India. His 23 hundreds is the most by a West Indian in one-day internationals.
He is also one of the six batsmen to have hit a double century in ODIs. He achieved the feat against Zimbabwe, when he slammed 215 in the 2015 World Cup in Canberra. The other five are Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Martin Guptill and Fakhar Zaman.
The 39-year-old has also proved to be a handy bowler and has taken 165 wickets in the format.
