Chris Gayle was in a candid mood in the West Indies’ final game against Australia as he batted with the sunglass on and waved off the field after being dismissed by Pat Cummins. Later, he was involved in a very pleasant exchange with Mitchell Marsh after getting him caught out and left the world guessing if he was wearing the Windies jersey for the one last time.
He had not announced anything like his teammates Dwayne Bravo who had announced his retirement from international cricket after that game and hence his antics on the filed left all of his fans and people involved in the game wondering. After the conclusion of the game, he was also seen signing on the lens of one of a camera where players retiring sign off that also fuelled the speculation of him hanging his boots.
However, he announced later in a Facebook live chat with the ICC that it wasn’t his last game for the men in maroon and rather said that he would love to finish his “phenomenal career” in front of the home crowd in Jamaica. He said that he would just say “hey guys, thank you so much,” if given the chance to play his farewell game at the Sabina Park, Jamaica or else he would join Bravo.
"It's been a phenomenal career," Gayle said in a Facebook Live chat with ICC after the match. "I didn't announce any retirement but [if] they actually give me one game in Jamaica to go in front of my home crowd, then I can say 'hey guys, thank you so much. Let's see. If not, I'll announce it long time and then I'll be joining DJ Bravo in the backend and say thanks to each and everyone but I can't say that as yet,” Gayle said.
"I was just having some fun today," he said. "Put everything that happened aside. I was just interacting with the fans in the stand and just having some fun seeing as it's going to be my last World Cup game."
He did not give up his candid style just yet and joked about playing another world cup while also admitting that chance of doing that looks remote at the moment. "But I don't think they will allow me,” Gayle said while joking about playing another world cup.
West Indies came into the tournament being the defending champions but got knocked out in by the end of the Super 12 stage only due to lacklustre batting performances, one after another. They started their campaign on a horrible note against England and could not quite recover from that setback. Chris Gayle too did not shine bright with the bat and in fact contributed to the misery of the Windies in this edition of the T20 World Cup.