JOIN US After a heavy defeat against Sri Lanka in the Twenty20, one expected to see Gayle with a poker face, but the West Indian skipper appeared with a huge grin, much to the amusement of the gathering at the Oval.
“I guess this is a real farewell for Chris Gayle. Boy, full house here, isn’t it?” he shouted before taking questions on Friday night.
Asked about which team he would put his money in the final, Gayle answered with that booming laughter accompanying. “I don't have any money man! I'm broke, to be honest with you.”
But a more serious answer followed. “You can't ask for a better final. Sri Lanka have a lot of supporters here.
“Pakistan too have a lot of fans. They are two quality teams and you should get a quality game.”
The semifinal defeat thwarted West Indies’ ambition of winning a major title after their triumph in the 2004 Champions Trophy held in England. But Gayle took the blow in his inimitable style.
“I am disappointed at the way the game panned out there. What can I do, may be go and ask Mohammad Ali (how to deliver a KO punch). But the semis will put a smile back on our fans’ faces.
“It's actually good to put a bit of smile on their faces. I'll say to them keep supporting, stop cursing.”
Gayle had a word of caution for the Indian team, which is in the Caribbean for a four-match one-day series. “I tell them, we'll fly like a butterfly and we'll still sting like a bee.”
Even a serious question about his injured ankle incurred a jovial answer. “I don't know. I am afraid of surgery.”
Call that the unyielding Jamaican spirit!