He was just the fourth name called out during the IPL Auction on Saturday, 27 January, and the big-hitting Chris Gayle was not picked by any franchise for the upcoming Indian Premier League season. He came up again during the second day, and still found no takers.
But what’s an IPL without Chris Gayle!
The West Indies batsman was brought back to the bidding table for a third time, and was bought by Kings XI Punjab for his base price of Rs 2 crore. A cricketer who once formed the most dangerous opening pair alongside Kohli, struggled to become a part of this year’s IPL.
Follow live updates from Day 2 of IPL Auction 208 here.
The story of West Indies batsman's rise in the IPL is a staggering one. Unsold in 2011, he was picked up by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) after Dirk Nannes suffered an injury and went on to become an iconic player of the Virat Kohli-led franchise.
The 38-year-old Gayle has the fastest T20 century to his name, off 30 balls for RCB versus Pune Warriors in 2013. He holds the record for most sixes in the tournament (265) with the next best a long way away at 173 (Suresh Raina), and also smacked the highest individual score in T20s (a bludgeoning 175) in the IPL.
However, he has been battling with erratic form of late.
He did not do anything noticeable in the away series against New Zealand in December-January. But he did grab a lot of attention after smashing an unbeaten 146 off 69 balls in the Bangladesh Premier League last month. Despite his heroics in the BPL, Gayle will be lucky to have any takers this time around.
Catch all the live action from IPL Player Auction 2018 here.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)