The “Universe Boss” has left the building, without applause or fanfare.
In his 30s, with the West Indies cricket administration increasingly treating him like a spare part, Chris Gayle reinvented himself as a Twenty20 bat for hire.
Unlike the Caribbean heroes of the past, World Cup success may have eluded him, but there was no doubting his pedigree across formats.
Despite that controversial remark in an interview, that he did not particularly care if Test cricket survived or not, Gayle remains part of a small and elite band of men — Donald Bradman, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag are the others — with two scores in excess of 300 in the most venerated form of the game.
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In the ODI arena, he was part of the side that won the Champions Trophy in 2004, and reached the final again two years later.
And in the game’s most abbreviated version, he was central to West Indian triumphs at the World Twenty20 in 2012 and 2016.
There were semi-final appearances in 2009 and 2014 as well, with the instinctive nature of the format seeming to suit the mercurial skills of the Caribbean’s finest.
As much as India beating Pakistan in the inaugural World T20 final in 2007, it was Gayle’s evisceration of Australia at The Oval in 2009 — a 50-ball 88 — that forced many sceptics to sit up and take notice.
Not for him the cute innovations and improvisation. Gayle dealt in casual brutality, the blacksmith on his anvil, and one particular ball was sent soaring into the road outside the ground.
After the 2011 World Cup, where West Indies limped out in the quarter-final, it was clear that those at the helm of West Indies cricket did not think Gayle was integral to their future plans. And that was when his Indian Premier League (IPL) career really took off.
He had spent two seasons with Kolkata Knight Riders from the league’s second year.
Back then, though, KKR were a synonym for basket case. Their auction strategies were off the mark, their coaching methods outlandish, and there existed an uneasy relationship between the owners and Sourav Ganguly, the captain and local hero who was clearly past his best.
In that environment, Gayle did not thrive. There was the odd sporadic reminder of what he could do, but by and large, he underachieved as much as his team did.
Having not found a new home in the 2011 auction, and in danger of being frozen out of the West Indies side, Gayle faced an uncertain future. That was when Royal Challengers Bangalore came calling, with Dirk Nannes having picked up an injury early in the campaign.
In Bangalore, Gayle found a hothouse to his liking. The franchise, owned then by Vijay Mallya, believed in king-size entertainment. Gayle’s taste for the flamboyant fitted in perfectly with the owner’s philosophy.
Some players hated the post-match parties, while others pretended not to care for them. Gayle embraced them, and was at their very heart.
His routine became well known. Party until the early hours, sleep until lunch, then maybe some pool time and a massage either side of meals, and off to the stadium for the night’s game. Had he been a sporadic performer, such an approach may have invited the ire of the coaching staff.
But, no. Gayle the batsman was as consistent as Gayle the life of the party. For three straight seasons, he was devastating, scoring at least 600 runs.
In 2011, his arrival inspired a surge to the final. But it says something about Bangalore’s misfortune in the IPL that Gayle’s best years never coincided with a title.
After a poor 2014, Gayle made 491 runs in 2015 as RCB reached the play-offs. The following season was another downer, though he did switch on in the final, in a narrow defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Now, with the reflexes noticeably slower and the footwork lumbering, there seems to be nothing left to give. His last four matches have seen scores of 7, 8, 0 and 0, the last three of them on home turf at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
There was gloomy silence as Gayle trudged off after a first-ball dismissal against KKR, his old team. Bangalore have no home games left, and with the team in need of drastic overhaul, it is almost certain that Gayle will not be invited back.
For more than half a decade though, like Salim Durani — the 1960s hero who hit sixes on demand — he was the crowd’s favourite entertainer, a dash of effortless Caribbean cool in a competition seeking to escape the prosaic.
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