Jason Holder thinks that Chris Gayle is losing his significance in ODIs and surprisingly the West Indies captain is not surprised of it. It is sad for West Indies Cricket to see a big player like Chris Gayle deciding to opt out of West Indies duty for playing T20 leagues. It is even more sad that the 2019 World Cup is only eight months away. But Jason Holder is hoping that in his absence, some of the younger players will seize the opportunity. He clearly thinks that despite being a big star, Chris Gayle is probably at the end of his career now and his absence gives another player opportunity.

The World Cup 2019 will begin in the month of May. Before that West Indies will play at least 13 ODIs. Jason Holder is totally confident that Chris Gayle will be a part of the West Indies squad for the World Cup 2019 which will be held in England and Wales. He also mentioned the point that the 39-year old batsman Chris Gayle had made himself available to play the qualifying tournament in March because he really wanted to play the World Cup and that he would be welcomed into the team. Jason Holder also said that he would welcome Chris Gayle into the team and that Gayle also wanted to do well playing the World Cup for West Indies.

Jason Holder said that credit must go to all the players who came up to represent West Indies in qualifying to the World Cup including Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels who really made themselves available for West Indies to play qualifying tournament in March. He mentioned that it was difficult to play against those teams as they were not known to them but inclusion of players like Gayle and Samuels helped the job become easier and qualify for the World Cup.

West Indies Cricket selection panel told Gayle that he would not be picked for the T20 series in India and Bangladesh as they were building a squad keeping in mind the 2020 World T20 in Australia. Gayle is understood to have told the selectors that, in that case, it would be better for him to step aside for the ODI series in both countries to allow the selectors to look at some younger players. Gayle told the selection panel that he would play a few matches for Jamaica in the Super50 followed by the Afghanistan Premier League and the T10 League in the UAE. Gayle was aware of the risk because his position could go to any player that performs well on the tours of India and Bangladesh, but he wanted to manage his workload to keep himself fit for the World Cup 2019.