Two charismatic skippers with winning ways.
The former led Team India to an epochal triumph in the 1983 World Cup, a victory which led to a radical power shift within the ICC. The Reliance World Cup followed in 1987. The circle was complete. The colonised were now king-makers.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was fortunate to be selected skipper for the inaugural 2007 T20 World Cup. He thrust a young, inexperienced team to the pinnacle in a format ignored by the bigger guns—Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Saurav Ganguly.
Chris Gayle, Chris Gayle, Chris Gayle.
It’s all about the West Indian opening bat.
Will he ever play for the Windies again?
The solution to this riddle may lie with Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The heads of government opted to resurrect the prime ministerial sub-committee on cricket to resolve the dispute.
For uninterested outsiders, it becomes harder and harder to sympathise with the Jamaican player. Not because the decision taken by the West Indian Cricket Board is fair, but because it seems he’s crying himself hoarse despite being richer to the tune of $265,000 plus his RCB fee of $400,000. Being a free agent has its perks when you’re Chris Gayle.
Dr. Ernest Hilaire and Dinanath Ramnarine are the other high-profile faces of the warring sides in this drama. The man in the centre of the storm is Ottis Gibson, the West Indian coach.
Gibson is a former player from Barbados who played a couple of Tests snaring three big wickets in Alec Stewart, Darren Gough and Jacques Kallis. Gayle appears to have more than a few issues with the current coach, a common thread repeated by Shivnarine Chanderpaul among others. A resolution to the crisis can only happen if Gibson is shown the door. Every predicament has a scapegoat.