CSA has confirmed that Chris Gayle will be part of the Mzansi Super League (MSL) opening weekend and will turn out for his team Jozi Stars' first fixture against Nelson Mandela Bay Giants at the Wanderers on Saturday November 17.
Gayle is also due to play for Kerala Kings in the T10 League in Sharjah from November 23 to December 2, but CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe set aside doubts about Gayle's availability for Jozi Stars' first round of matches at the MSL, which starts on 16 November and runs until 16 December.
"We are excited to have Chris part of this tournament from the start and he is looking forward to linking up with his Jozi Stars team-mates," Moroe said. "Seeing the 'World Boss' back in South Africa and playing cricket - we and the fans could not have asked for anything better than one of the most popular players that have ever played the game."
Gayle, 39, is still an in-demand commodity in T20 leagues around the world, and in October he was part of the inaugural Afghanistan Premier League, where he helped Balkh Legends to the title with a string of fifties. Gayle has also had a previous stint in South African domestic T20 cricket with Lions, for whom he played in the 2014-15 Ram Slam T20 Challenge, topping the team's run-scoring charts with 257 runs at a strike rate of 141.98 including a century against Warriors.
Gayle's homeground with Jozi Stars will be the 34,000-seater Wanderers in Johannesburg, where he scored the first ever century in the shortest format of the game in the opening match of the World T20 back in 2007. He will join a line-up that also includes Kagiso Rabada, Reeza Hendricks and Beuran Hendricks.