Chris Gayle has returned to St Kitts & Nevis Patriots for CPL 2021. The 41-year old adds more experience and firepower to a Patriots side that had already secured trades for Dwayne Bravo and Sherfane Rutherford from Trinbago Knight Riders and Guyana Amazon Warriors respectively.
Gayle was supposed to turn out for the St Lucia Zouks in CPL 2020 after an acrimonious fallout with the Jamaica Tallawahs, but he eventually opted out of last season for personal reasons.
Notably, Gayle had captained the Patriots to their first final in 2017, when they lost to the Knight Riders at the Brian Lara Stadium.
Faf du Plessis, too, will return to the CPL after being snapped up by the Zouks. He had been part of the Patriots in CPL 2016, when he scored 179 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of less than 100. This season, however, he brings with him strong form, having rattled up 320 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 145.45 for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2021, which was indefinitely suspended earlier this month after after a number of players and staff tested positive for Covid-19 amid a second wave of the pandemic in India.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan has re-signed with the Jamaica Tallawahs for the forthcoming season. He had been part of the franchise in 2016 and 2017 before moving to the Barbados Tridents in 2019 and winning the title with them.
All squads will be revealed at the CPL draft that will take place on Friday. The tournament is scheduled to begin on August 28, with the final on September 19. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all games will be held in St Kitts & Nevis.