Chris Gayle hurt by mercenary tag on cricketers

Chris Gayle

West Indies hard-hitting batsman Chris Gayle has criticised people who label cricketers as mercenaries in T20. According to the 34-year-old, calling a cricketer a mercenary is unfair to the player, as it degrades their standing in the game. He also warned that tainting the reputation of players with such labels was both unwarranted and distasteful.

“I’ve had that said about me in the past and it’s hurtful, by my own fans in the Caribbean and some by others. But they need to know that it’s always a cricketer’s dream to wear his international colours. That term ‘mercenary’ will hurt cricket,” he said.

“These same mercenaries are the ones who are representing all the countries in the World T20s who everyone will be supporting so why use that word?”

Courtesy of a dispute with the WICB, Gayle had to sit out of the international cricket circuit in the past and he understands why there is criticism of him for playing T20 throughout the world, before also going on to add that it was always his aim to return to the international team.

“I had bills to pay and all cricketers have the same. We still do,” he said. “T20 is a good way of earning extra income to secure your future and your family’s. Many people don’t get that. I’m more comfortable financial-wise now and I’m looking to play West Indies cricket for a few more years.”

“All I wanted to do was come back and play for the West Indies. When I wasn’t in the team, I had to play T20s to pay the bills and look at what happened in 2012. We won the World T20 and so many players like myself, [Dwayne] Bravo and Sunil Narine gained from our IPL experiences. We have more West Indies players in the IPL now and it’s great for [Krishmar] Santokie and Jason Holder to get this experience. And make a living.”

Last year’s coach of Barbados Trident in the Caribbean Premier League, Desmond Haynes has backed Gayle.

“You know how hard it was for players like us back in the day to make money off cricket? We had to travel the world on tour and play away from our family for so long,” he said.

“Relationships, marriages and parenthood struggled. Some of us couldn’t see our newborns for a year. But we had to do it. Now, some players can make what we did in a lifetime in just one or two T20 tournaments.”

Gayle also added that he wanted to play cricket at Test level, if his fitness permits for another couple of years and insisted that his desire to represent the national team remain strong.

However, he did add that “the T20 label keeps sticking to me” before throwing light on the case of his good friend Kevin Pietersen.

“You look at someone like KP,” he added. “He could have made money for years now playing T20s but he stuck with England. It’s national pride. Now, maybe he will be going out there and be playing more T20s and making big money but no one believes us when players like us say we always want to play for our country first and foremost.

“The game has changed and there’s a lot of cricket being played so T20s do clash with tours and such but we can iron and fix this out. Maybe it’s all about proper T20 windows, who knows? But I’m sure if England called KP up now he’d jump at the chance to play for his country. That’s across the board for players like us. We always would.”