Gayle undrafted for IPL 2018

Jamaican T20 superstar Chris Gayle went undrafted in the Indian Premier League draft ahead of the 2018 season.

Gayle who has been at the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the past five seasons, struggled for runs in 2017 despite a decent 2016 campaign. Captain Virat Kholi was retained at a cost of US $2.6 million along with AB De Villiers and Sarfraz Khan.

Earlier this year, the 38 year old left-handed batsman went undrafted for the Pakistan Super League. Jamaican Andre Russell and Trinidadian Sunil Narine were the only West Indian players retained, both for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

The player retention is the first step towards the franchises reforming their squads ahead of the 2018 IPL player auction. After the 2017 IPL, the tenth year of the tournament, the existing squads were disbanded, apart from the players retained by the teams. The 2018 season of the IPL will commence on April 4.