The 41-year-old big-hitter was left out of the line-up for the first six games of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season. With the team struggling to a 1-6 record, the player was scheduled to appear for the seventh match but was sidelined with a stomach illness.
Gayle eventually made his debut with an important 53 against Royal Challengers Bangalore that kept the team’s season alive. Since his introduction, KXIP's playoff chances have been revived as they have won three games in a row and go for a fourth on Saturday. In analysing the situation, Ganguly praised Gayle’s performance and believes some time on the sidelines may have helped the West Indies star. Typically an opener, Gayle has been brought into the line-up as a number three batsman with captain KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal doing a great job at the very top of the order.
“We all think Chris Gayle keeps laughing and roaming but it pinched him that he has been made to sit out,” Ganguly told Star Sports.
“These are the things to see and learn from. IPL is just too much competition,” he added.
During an interview on the ‘Good Morning Jojo Sports Show’, Cameron said even if his bid was not successful it would be his hope that successor to Shashank Manohar, would share his zeal for eradicating the economic disparity between big and small cricketing nations.
By big, Cameron spoke of Cricket Australia (CA), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“The system which exists within the ICC needs to be changed and I was there challenging that,” said Cameron.
According to Cameron, media rights is the arena in which the big three make a killing, to the exemption of smaller cricketing nations like the West Indies.
“Australia’s media rights for six years is 1.2 billion Australian dollars, the BCCI media rights for five years is 950 million for the international rights and 2.5 billion for IPL and the West Indies Cricket Board, if we’re lucky, will get about 50 million for the next five years,” he said.
With the much more open nature of access to information, Cameron believes ICC members like the West Indies must struggle to meet the demands of professional cricketers under the present conditions.
“What is happening to us is that our players are demanding to get paid the way Indian players, the Australian players and the English players are paid, and they’re right; they are doing the same amount of work but we are in different economies,” Cameron explained.
Cameron’s bid for ICC Chairman is timely, and he explains that timeliness in terms of having a seat at the table before there is another apportioning of media rights and the like that will disproportionately be split up.
“If we don’t do it now we are going into another eight-year cycle of ICC rights from 2023 to 2031 and I guarantee you that within three to five years, West Indies cricket and West Indies cricket players would be extinct,” he said.
“Don’t select me as chairman but make sure we select someone who’s willing to make changes within the ICC,” he said.
Manohar stepped down from the role of ICC Chairman just this month, with Singapore’s Imran Khawaja filling the post on an interim basis.
Khawaja, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, and England’s Colin Graves are the men who Cameron wishes to challenge.
Graves has, for a long time, been touted as favourite to take over the role.
