Chris Gayle opted himself out of CSK clash, says Iqbal Abdulla

Gayle didn’t play last night’s match against CSK

One question was ringing inside the fans minds last night when the teams were announced. ‘Why isn’t Chris Gayle playing?’ Was he actually dropped for his poor one-off performance against the Mumbai Indians that night? Or did RCB want to try something different since Gayle hasn’t been prolific against CSK over the years?

Well, its none of the above as revealed by the team’s left arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla. It looks like Gayle opted himself out of the game so that he can be fresh for the rest of the tournament. "Gayle decided to opt out of the game, he wanted to keep himself for the future. Hopefully he will play in the games ahead," Abdulla said in the post-match press conference.

The decision didn’t work though as RCB plunged to the bottom of the table after another loss. They now play their next match against the Rajasthan Royals at Ahmedabad and it will be interesting to see if Gayle does make himself available or not for that crunch clash.