Chris Gayle Wants Shimron Hetmyer To Take His Cricket Seriously After Latter Fails To Meet Fitness Standards

While Chris Gayle is back in the West Indies T20 team after almost two years in the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka, youngster Shimron Hetmyer misses out after failing to meet the fitness standards.

The West Indies Cricket Board welcomed back Chris Gayle, 41, and Fidel Edwards, 39, to their T20 set up in view of the upcoming T20 World Cup later in the year – however, the likes of Shimron Hetmyer, Sheldon Cottrell, Roston Chase, and Oshane Thomas were dropped from the squad after not clearing the minimum fitness requirements. This is indeed the second instance of Hetmyer being left out of the West Indies team due to his fitness issues.

Chris Gayle, ahead of the Sri Lanka series, sent out a message to the youngster saying that the 24-year-old needs to focus on his cricket, and by that he clearly meant fitness. The two-time T20 World Cup-winning opener asserted that Hetmyer is a seriously good talent and is the future of West Indies cricket. Gayle says that he will have a word with the youngster whenever they will meet.

“West Indies cricket needs that type of talent, it’s just unfortunate, and hopefully, things work out, and these guys take it seriously. These guys are the future. A guy like Hetmyer, with his talent, he is the future.

“We need him, we definitely need his talent; we don’t want to lose such a talent, so if I see Hetmyer, I will try and have a talk with him. I’ve spoken to him before, and I will do so if I get the chance again,” Chris Gayle said in a virtual press conference.

Shimron Hetmyer cleared for the Test series

Jimmy Adams, the Cricket West Indies director, has revealed that Shimron Hetmyer, along with Roston Chase, had cleared the subsequent fitness rounds, and will be taken into considerations for the two-match Test series commencing March 21.

“We had done a press conference very recently, and we had explained that there were some players that had missed the minimum fitness standard for selection, two of those players have since met that standard, that’s Roston Chase and Shimron Hetmyer, They would now be available for selection for the next selection meeting around the Test matches coming up later in March,” Jimmy Adams said.

Post the Sri Lanka series, the southpaw will be seen in the IPL 2021 as the Delhi Capitals have retained him after an impressive season last year.

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