Cricketer as mercenary: Why does Gayle stand alone?

These were not supposed to be the words of an international cricketer. These certainly weren’t supposed to be the words of someone who had scored a triple century in Tests and without a doubt, not those of a captain. “I wouldn’t be so sad (if Test cricket died out). Some other players would be. Maybe Andrew Strauss would be sad. Maybe he will be sad if Test cricket dies and Twenty20 continues. Because there is no way he can make the change,” said Chris Gayle during an interview in 2009. That moment, in the eyes of many traditionalists, was the beginning of the end. The fear was that other cricketers would follow Gayle’s example and soon country versus cricket would be reduced to a no-brainer. [caption id=“attachment_266484” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Why aren’t more following in his footsteps? Reuters”]  [/caption] A look at Gayle’s profile reveals that he has now played for 10 teams around the world: West Indies, Barisal Burners, ICC World XI, Jamaica, Kolkata Knight Riders, Matabeleland Tuskers, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Stanford Superstars, Sydney Thunder, Western Australia and Worcestershire. He is a globe-trotting citizen and he is cool… very cool. He can carry off Afros, neon-rimmed sunglasses, groove with the crowd and play without a flag at his back with fair degree of ease. But that’s not the reason why he’s cool. The true transformation begins when he steps into the ground. Regardless of the location, whether it’s India, Australia, England or Bangladesh – Gayle has established himself as a one-man army, capable of winning matches on his own. We saw firm evidence of that in the fourth season of the IPL. Gayle joined the team late – ended up playing 12 matches but the impact he made was more than great. He racked up 608 runs at an average of 67.55 and a spell-binding strike-rate of 183.13. It also included a completely crazy statistic of 44 sixes – the next highest six hitter was Mahendra Singh Dhoni with 23. He almost single-handedly took Bangalore to the title and that is why even at 32, he remains prime cricket property that every team wants to get its hands on. In almost every way, he is the prototype mercenary cricketer. So why aren’t more following in his footsteps? With the exception of the odd international cricketer, not too many more big stars have moved in the same direction as the former West Indies skipper. Prime among the reasons has to be that to survive in such a manner, you need to be a genuine world beater. You need to be able to play the big shots. You need to be able to induce fear into the opposition. It helps if you can also bowl. But primarily you need guts to put your international career on hold and jump into unknown. Of course, part of Gayle’s decision is induced by the West Indies Cricket Board’s decision to just not pick him for the Windies squad. But in his heart of hearts, he is a free bird and the current situation suits him just fine. The future that the traditionalists envisaged hasn’t quite materialised but that may also be because the future of T20 or club cricket still isn’t set in stone. When that does happen, perhaps, a whole new breed of cricketers will emerge and they will all owe Gayle.