St. John’s, July 26
Veteran opener Chris Gayle was on Friday named in the West Indies squad for the three-match ODI series against India, beginning August 8.
Left-handed opener John Campbell, fellow batsman Roston Chase and all-rounder Keemo Paul have all been recalled to the 14-member squad for the series which will be contested on August 8 at the Guyana National Stadium, and on August 11 and 14 at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad.
Ahead of the England series in March, Gayle had said that he planned to retire following the ODI World Cup but he changed his mind during the tournament and has made himself available for this series. The southpaw will miss the preceding T20 series as he will be busy with GT20 Canada.
The self-proclaimed “Universe Boss” also has the extra motivation to chase two records during the ODI series.
Gayle currently has 10,338 runs and needs just 11 more to pass batting legend Brian Lara (10,348) for the highest aggregate in ODIs for West Indies.
He has also amassed 10,393 runs and needs 13 to again overtake Lara (10,405) for the most runs by a West Indian in the history of ODIs.
“Chris is a very valuable player and he brings a lot of experience, a lot of knowledge, he lends a lot to any dressing room and it is great to have him in the squad,” said interim West Indies head coach Floyd Reifer.
Reifer said Campbell, Chase and Paul have been brought back to add more balance to the squad, whilst Sunil Ambris, Darren Bravo, Shannon Gabriel and Ashley Nurse have all missed out on selection for the matches against Virat Kohli’s side.
The rest of the World Cup squad remains in place.
“We have a mixture of some experienced and young ODI players,” said Reifer.
“It is good to have Keemo, John and Roston back, and they will help to bring further balance to the team. Looking ahead to the series, I think we have a lot to build upon following the World Cup. We have retained a large number of players from the World Cup squad, so there is a lot to build on and I am looking forward to the series,” he added.
