Gayle's participation in India series still uncertain

Uncertainty still looms large over Chris Gayle's participation in the upcoming ODI series against India as the explosive opener is yet to respond to WICB's call to meet with its top brass and sort out the differences in order to be eligible for selection.

"I haven't heard from him yet," said West Indies' chief selector, Clyde Butts during the team's practice session at the Queen's Park Oval on Wednesday.

Inspite of his stellar performance for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the just-concluded IPL, Gayle was left out of the the West Indies squad for the lone Twenty20 match and the first two ODIs for his outburst against WICB.

The WICB asked Gayle to make himself available for a meeting with the board, selectors and the team management in order to be eligible for future selection. But so far, he has turned his back to the offer.

The bone of contention between Gayle and WICB is the radio interview in which he had alleged that the board officials did not bother to check the status of his fitness or availability before announcing the squad for the recently-held Pakistan series.

That has irked the WICB officials to such an extent that they have kept the records of the e-mails sent to the big-bodied Jamaican enquiring about his fitness as well as the record of the numerous phone calls that went unanswered.

The WICB selectors are likely to announce the team for the remaining three ODIs by early next week and Gayle's adamant behaviour could see him miss out on a place in the national team for those matches.