Gayle commits to Windies for World Cup

Though he spends much of his time away from the national set-up, where Jason Holder’s team was recently beaten 2-0 in the Test series against India, Gayle remains intent on preparing for the 2019 tournament.

The 39-year-old left-hander is currently playing in the Afghanistan Premier League but looks forward to joining up with the ODI squad when they host England in February.

“I am definitely available for selection against England,” Gayle said.

“At this moment, scoring runs in these leagues [franchise cricket] is important as everything can be seen as being geared up towards the World Cup.

“In the process, I’ve merely got to manage my time, my schedule and my body to ensure that I am in top shape. After this [APL], there is a lot of cricket to come. We have the T10 cricket [also in Sharjah — where he features with the Daniel Vettori-coached Kerala Kings] and after that we have so much more cricket by the time of the World Cup. I feel that at this juncture, it is all about clicking at the right time and having fun playing.”

Gayle was part of the team that narrowly achieved qualification for the tournament proper during the Qualifier event in Zimbabwe in March.

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