Shimron Hetmyer with his talent is the future for West Indies: Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle termed Shimron Hetmyer as the future of West Indies, while hoping that the latter is taking his cricket seriously. Hetmyer recently missed out on the white-ball squad for the Sri Lanka series as he failed to meet the minimum fitness requirements.

Chris Gayle also added that he will have a word with Shimron Hetmyer once he sees him. Speaking at a virtual press conference, the West Indies star said:

"West Indies cricket needs that type of talent, it’s just unfortunate, and hopefully, things work out, and these guys take it seriously. These guys are the future. A guy like Hetmyer, with his talent, he is the future. We need him, we definitely need his talent; we don’t want to lose such a talent, so if I see Hetmyer, I will try and have a talk with him. I’ve spoken to him before, and I will do so if I get the chance again.”

Cricket West Indies (CWI) names the West Indies squads for the CG Insurance T20 International Series and CG Insurance One-Day International Series against Sri Lanka. #WIvSL Full Squads details⬇️ https://t.co/8F1UY2fsuI pic.twitter.com/AwxKTQBuKF

— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) February 26, 2021

After almost two years, Chris Gayle has made a comeback to the West Indies team. He was picked for the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, the first of which will be played tomorrow.

Shimron Hetmyer available for selection for the two-match Test series

Shimron Hetmyer in action in Caribbean Premier League (CPL)

Shimron Hetmyer has struggled with fitness issues, and this was the second instance in a year where he failed to meet the minimum fitness benchmark.

However, after missing out on the white-ball leg of the tour against Sri Lanka, Cricket West Indies director Jimmy Adams revealed that the left-handed batsman had cleared the latest round of fitness tests which put him in contention for selection for the Test series.

"We had done a press conference very recently, and we had explained that there were some players that had missed the minimum fitness standard for selection, two of those players have since met that standard, that’s Roston Chase and Shimron Hetmyer, They would now be available for selection for the next selection meeting around the Test matches coming up later in March," Adams said.

West Indies are yet to announce their squad for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka. The first Test starts on March 21.