In the first episode of a new cricket podcast from DafaNews called ‘The Spirit of Cricket’, West Indies icon Chris Gayle shared his views on a range of topics, from the upcoming World Cup, his predicted top four, the health of ODIs, England’s Bazball revolution, the state of Caribbean cricket and more.
Excerpts:
‘A World Cup without the West Indies doesn’t look right at all’
“West Indies not in the World Cup, that’s disappointing from a personal point of view, its heartbreaking. Where are basically at now, we can look to actually rebuild. When I say rebuild, I mean four years for the next World Cup. I know they have a T20 World Cup next year, but they have a chance to look at different players. We don’t have many players, to be honest with you. We have a new coach in Darren Sammy and the board can only really give him the support he needs and the players can rally around him as well. They need to come up with a plan, which is going to be key for West Indies. These series coming up as well, there need to win them to take away a bit of the talk about West Indies not being at the World Cup. You don’t want to play series and continue to lose. Whatever it is, Test or T20I or ODI, you have to look to win them. Play hard, try and gain some face for the fans as well after not making the World Cup. You need to structure it out and plan accordingly for the next World Cup in four years.
“The damage has actually been done. It’s been something ongoing for a long time. You cannot pinpoint one thing. Darren Sammy just came in and we have a new president as well, so we cannot say it’s their fault. These are new guys on board. The damage was done years ago, which I faced while playing as well. Nobody seems to come out of it and go in the right direction. People who come into the team and play, these seam to do the same things over and over again. They will talk pretty and will take the wrong route. With Sammy and the new president, hopefully they can stay on and put West Indies cricket first and make it a priority to actually rebuilt and restructure our cricket and make sure we can gain something back for the fans and gain back our reputation as well. We’ve lost it. A World Cup without the West Indies doesn’t look right at all.”
‘Virat might think he’s in trouble if India don’t win the World Cup’
“As a player, I think he will have that in the back of his mind that this could be his last World Cup as well. Say India doesn’t win the World Cup, it might be a bit of a worry for him to actually, to play the next World Cup as well. But he’s a fit guy. He can go on for five more years with ease, to be honest with you. But the main point is India winning the World Cup. He’s fantastic, he’s India’s best player. A fantastic guy to actually take the baton and lead from the front as well with Rohit. But like I said, this is going to be in the back of his mind to say, if we don’t win this World Cup, I’m pretty much in trouble here. And he’s going to score runs, without a doubt. He’s a run machine. So, the result is what’s going to be key for the Indian team and him.”
‘With that bowling, Pakistan can lift the World Cup’
“They are obviously ranked number one. But that fast bowling, it’s just incredible to watch. Pakistan definitely in my top four, for sure. Seeing that they actually have similar conditions from Pakistan to India as well, they know the subcontinent very well. The bowling lineup, always a strong competitor. The spinners are very good as well. And in the batting department they can put runs on the board. That’s another thing with Babar Azam at the top as well. You just know that these guys are going to be key. Pakistan is definitely a big threat for the World Cup. They can lift it, you never know.”
‘Australia have something to play for, and that’s each other’
“Australia is always a candidate to lift the World Cup. They have a solid all-round team as well. They know the Indian conditions well, most of the players play in the IPL and they tend to do well in India. So, you don’t want to say they can’t lift the trophy. You have to put them right up there as well. They’re going to be in the top four for sure. David Warner, pretty much his last World Cup, you don’t want to shy away from the fact. Most of the players said it already, that this is going to be their last World Cup as well. I’m sure they actually have something to play for, and they play for each other as well. They can actually lift the World Cup one more time as well for those players. It’s something they can use as a motivational factor to go into this World Cup.”
‘No one gives New Zealand the credit they deserve’
“As much as I would have loved to see the West Indies there, I will be watching the World Cup and supporting a different team. India is at home, very good team, but I’d love to see New Zealand win the title. They’re always in the mix when it comes the World Cup, they’re always in the semi-final and now last two finals. No one talks about them, no one gives them credit, so for me New Zealand is a definite candidate to win the World Cup.
“I liked to play against New Zealand, and let me put that into perspective by saying that they were one of my candidates to actually get some runs against [laughs]. I did pretty well against New Zealand, but in the World Cup they always get the better of us. The last World Cup we played them, Martin Guptill got a double-century against us in Wellington. He smashed us all over the park! New Zealand are always on top of their game at World Cups, but yet no one talks about them, no one gives them the credit they deserve. That is a team that played unified cricket and that’s why they’re always in the mix for the semi-finals and the final. Just never get across the finish line.”
‘ODIs are way, way too long’
“When I used to play international cricket … when you play a T20 game and then you’ve got to try and turn over and play a 50-over game … it is very long. It seems like a Test much. It’s dragged out a bit, its way, way too long. And it kind of puts you in a different mindset like ‘Whoa, when is this game is going to finish?’ Especially when you’re in the outfield, it feels crazy, crazy long. I don’t know what solution they’re going to actually come up with to do with 50-over cricket, but they can actually break it down and make the World Cup every two years. Every four years is too much, it drags out over a long time. And you want it for TV rights, no? So, you want to introduce the World Cup a bit more sooner than later.”
‘The tri-series will be more fun’
“The tri-series will be more fun, to be honest with you. Three teams going at it and the two teams going on to play the final, that is something to look forward to. I think it’ll draw a lot more attention and take away a lot more distraction from just two teams playing a five-match one-day series. Those things will actually change it and give it a bit more momentum, so I think they need to actually bring back that as well. But there’s so much cricket being played and every day the calendar is so jam packed, which is what has kind of worn down the 50-over format as well. So, I think the tri-series is something that the ICC needs to take into consideration very seriously.”
‘Test cricket is pretty much unfair’
“I think from an international cricket point of view, that the ICC has been trying it for a couple years now to pretty much branch off the top teams and the lower teams to actually try and get the lower teams to the play against the top team as well. But that’s pretty much unfair. You’ve got to share it equally because you want the cricket to develop as well. So, you cannot separate the top teams by themselves and leave the second half of the bottom teams to play by themselves. You want the bottom teams to play against the top teams to actually develop their cricket as well, develop their skills so they can actually get better. You don’t want to divert the game too much in that aspect.
“I know they’ve been trying that, because if you look at the top three teams …. India, England, Australia …. I can’t even think of a fourth, you know? Those are the top three teams I can pretty much pinpoint. At this particular time, they are the ones playing more games than the others. The Ashes is a five-Test series, but teams like West Indies and South Africa, when are they getting to play five Tests? How many Tests are they playing in a year? These are the things that they’ve got to take into consideration. Do you want to spread the game, spread the awareness, so everybody can actually be treated equally as well? The payment wise, they can look to fluctuate that as well, because only the top teams benefit from that aspect as well. But we have to just wait and see whether they will actually look at it in that regards.”
‘There’s no loyalty within cricket, it’s a business’
“I’ve been called a flagbearer, but I’ve also been the scapegoat for this. They always brand me as choosing franchise cricket over international cricket. They always say ‘Chris is all about the money’. My advice to cricketers now, especially the up and coming ones, is that cricket is actually a business. As much as players want to represent their country and make a name for himself at the international level, it is a business and there’s no loyalty within the game of cricket, okay? Everybody is looking out for themselves from a business point of view. And I’m speaking generally from all across the board. So, this time around, whatever you thought, whatever you already have, or whatever you see fit as a player – choose wisely, okay?
“I’d love to see players actually stick with international cricket, because I think that’s where they need to actually make a name for themselves and that’s where they will be seen more and then can get picked up by franchises, by the IPL teams, and then get big bucks. But separate from that, it is a business. Just always have that in the back of your mind that the game changes. It’s a proper business and sports, in general, they change. I’m just speaking from a cricket point of view. So just think like that.”
‘I was doing Chrisball before Bazball!’
“Well, I was doing Chrisball, to be honest, for as long as I can remember! As a West Indian, I know that we’ve been doing that a long time and we created those kinds of things, you know? It’s actually something that is pretty much the norm to us. I love it [Bazball] because it is very attacking and it is changing the game of Test cricket, where you can see close to 400 runs in a day. Those guys have set the trend but Virender Sehwag, Brendon McCullum, David Warner and Herschelle Gibbs back in the day were attacking openers as well. To see more than one player doing it now is good. More than one player in the England team attacking, and not just one team doing it, makes England an attacking team with everyone on the charge. They will win big and they will lose games too, but when they get it right they’re going to hurt a lot of teams, for sure. Especially with their bowling lineup as well. For a person who has played over 100 Test matches, it’s fantastic to see Test cricket being played on the attacking side.”
