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DHAKA: West Indies batsman Chris Gayle has apologised for the team’s limp World Cup exit on Wednesday, but said it is “easy” to blame the senior players.
West Indies coach Ottis Gibson used a news conference after the 10-wicket thrashing by Pakistan to criticize senior players including Gayle for failing to perform.
The 31-year-old Gayle posted an apology to the West Indies fans on his Twitter feed on Thursday, but added: “it is easy to blame the senior players, but difficult to accept the truth!!! Curse me blame me!!!!”
West Indies hasn’t beaten a higher-ranked team in a limited-overs international for more than two years. The team threw away winning positions against England and India in the group stage at the World Cup, before being bowled out for 112 against Pakistan in the quarterfinal.
Gibson said the West Indies management would take some “serious decisions” before West Indies play a home series against Pakistan in April.
“West Indies cricket for the last 10 years has been pretty much the same. And also they’ve been the same players,” Gibson said. “This tournament has seen the emergence of a quite a few good young players and those young players are the players we will build our future on.”
Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul have all played at several World Cups, but they couldn’t stamp their authority on the team this time around.
Gayle missed two games with an abdominal strain and though he returned to the team for the quarterfinal, he scored just eight in a disastrous batting performance by West Indies.
Chanderpaul’s form was such that he was dropped for two games. He also returned against Pakistan and though he top-scored with 44, he and Sarwan finished the tournament with strike rates of less than 60, among the lowest in the tournament.
