West Indies opener Chris Gayle is all set to make a comeback into the T20 international squad to take on Sri Lanka in March. In an emotional video posted on his Facebook page, the ‘Universe Boss’ shared his journey from a shanty house in Kingston behind the Sabina Park stadium in Jamaica to scoring career-best 333 against Sri Lanka and becoming superstar. 


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In the video, Gayle informed his fans that after making his debut for the West Indies, the swashbuckling opener underwent a surgery to repair a hole in his heart on the 2005 tour of Australia. Later that year, he went on to score his first triple century – 317 against South Africa in St John’s. 


Around five years after that surgery, Gayle piled up his career-best score of 333 against Sri Lanka at Galle in 2010. Gayle hammered nine sixes and 34 fours in a knock that had a strike-rate of over 76. 


“I needed life-saving heart surgery and I vowed never to give up. Five years later in Galle, Sri Lanka, I scored a record 333 runs. Many more records fell in my career and fame as well as fortune followed. But there was a rule to my life – Live it with a smile. 333 is more than just a number,” Gayle says in the video.



Gayle will undergo a fitness assessment before the final West Indies squad is named. If he does play, it will be the first time he has represented West Indies in any format since August 2019, when he played an ODI against India – it will be exactly two years to the day since he last played a T20 international, against England in March 2019. 


Gayle is scheduled to return to Pakistan for the remainder of the PSL after the last T20I, on March 7 – an arrangement that had been agreed upon after the draft but before the season began.