West Indies batter Chris Gayle opted out of Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2022, in order to focus on the T10 tournament, ‘6ixty’. 6ixty will run from August 24 to 28 in Saint Kitts, immediately before the CPL season.
‘The 6ixty’ tournament trophy is named on Chris Gayle as ‘The Universe Boss Trophy ‘. pic.twitter.com/l2KJylpIWN
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 28, 2022
“I am going for the shorter format this year. I am genuinely excited about the current innovations in the 6ixty and seeing how they play out. In particular, I am looking forward to the mystery team ball and hitting two sixes in the first 12 balls to unlock the third powerplay over,” said Chris Gayle as reported by ESPNcricinfo.
Gayle has scored a total of 2519 runs in the CPL at an average of 36.50 and a strike rate of 133.13. Only Lendl Simmons (2629) has more runs than Gayle in the league.
The 42-year-old batter will act as an ambassador for the 6ixty and West Indies players will be available after their ODI series against New Zealand, which finishes on August 21. He also missed CPL 2020 due to some personal reasons.
Apart from CPL, Gayle had earlier opted out of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 after leaving the 14th edition midway due to bio-bubble fatigue.
What is 6ixty?
The 6ixty is played in the T10 format of cricket (also referred to by its organizers as “60-ball cricket”), meaning that each team bats for a maximum of 10 overs (60 legal balls) in each game, and each bowler bowls a maximum of two overs, and games last approximately 90 minutes.[6] However, the following rules are added in The 6ixty:
- Teams are all out upon losing 6 wickets, rather than 10.
- The first 5 overs of each innings will all be bowled from one end of the pitch, with the other 5 overs bowled from the other end.
- Fielding teams must bowl the 10 overs of an innings within 45 minutes, or they lose a fielder during the final over.
- The batting team can ‘unlock’ a third powerplay over by hitting two sixes in the initial two powerplay overs.
- Fans will be able to vote to decide the timing of a “Mystery Free Hit” in each innings.
