Chris Gayle has farewelled the Big Bash League for this summer – and possibly forever – with a social media outburst in which he hit back at former cricketers who criticised his behaviour during an interview with journalist Mel McLaughlin.
Gayle also declared himself a league-builder in the Twenty20 format and said that if he had played his last BBL innings his “memory with the fans will live on forever”.
His final innings certainly was memorable: a 12-ball half-century that equalled the all-time fastest T20 fifty set by Yuvraj Singh in 2007.
But Gayle will be remembered more for the interview in Hobart in which he asked McLaughlin for a drink and told her: “don’t blush, baby”.
His comments were widely criticised, including by Cricket Australia, and while Gayle was not suspended by his team, Melbourne Renegades, it is considered unlikely he will be welcome in future BBL tournaments.
