I saw Gayle’s signature, says Nizamuddin

After West Indies superstar Chris Gayle had claimed that he did not even know that he was in the reckoning for the BPL this season, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said yesterday that the Jamaican’s signature was on the document provided to the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

Gayle seemed to be surprised that he was picked by BPL side Chattogram Challengers for the upcoming seventh edition and, speaking after finishing his stint with Jozi Stars in South African T20 league Mzansi Super League on November 24, expressed surprise that he was picked in the BPL draft.

Gayle said that he would take a break from cricket, which would include missing Australia’s Big Bash League and West Indies’ ODI tour of India in December.

“I am not going to the Big Bash. I’m not sure what cricket will come up. I don’t even know how my name reached the BPL, but I have been drafted in a team and I don’t even know how that happened,” Gayle told the media after the Stars’ loss to Tshwane Spartans.

Initially, the news had created confusion in the BCB and the Challengers camp, but Nizamuddin said that the document Gayle’s agent provided to the BPL governing council was signed by the 40-year-old.

“We follow a certain procedure before putting a player’s name on the draft list,” Chowdhury told The Daily Star after looking into the document. “The case was the same with Gayle. The document we were given by his agent contained his [Gayle’s] signature. After you asked me about it, I inspected the document.”

Chattogram Challengers team director and BCB director Jalal Yunus informed The Daily Star that after picking Gayle in the November 16 players’ draft, the team had even held negotiations with him.

During the BPL players’ draft on November 16, upon getting the chance through a lottery to pick the first player, Chattogram Challengers had scooped up Gayle.

“We picked Gayle at the first opportunity. All our plans were made with him in mind. Now, if he doesn’t come, we will be in big trouble. After picking him we held discussions with him about payment. But we have not heard from him for the last few days. Now we hear this... I don’t know where the problem lies,” Yunus said.

This is the latest in a series of turmoil surrounding this year’s BPL. In August, after a disagreement with the franchises that had been a part of the first six editions, the BCB had decided to stage the tournament on their own steam, without the involvement of the franchises.

BCB President Nazmul Hassan had also announced that the upcoming edition would be titled the Bangabandhu BPL in celebration of the 100th birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.