West Indies opener Chris Gayle has been roped in by St Lucia Zouks as their marquee player for the 2020 edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

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St Lucia bought Gayle after Jamaica Tallawahs opted against retaining him. The southpaw has also played for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in the past and won the CPL title twice with Tallawahs.

Gayle is the only batsman in the world to score 10,000+ runs in Twenty20 cricket and hit 22 hundreds in the format, with the highest score of 175*. He is also the leading CPL run-scorer of all-time, having aggregated 2,344 runs in the tournament.

Elated by Gayle’s arrival at the Zouks, newly appointed captain Daren Sammy said: "This is great news for St Lucia Zouks and for me as a captain to have the 'Universe Boss' on my side. Chris is one of the most successful T20 batsmen in the world and with his experience with our young openers, a lot can be learnt from Chris.

"I welcome him to the Zouks franchise. Chris will be in St Lucia and the fans will be happy that Jamaica has released him. I will have a motivated Chris Gayle looking to prove a point that he is one of the leading T20 batsmen in the world. I can't wait for CPL 2020 and hopefully the coronavirus will be under control and we can have an exciting T20 tournament."

Commenting on the same, coach Andy Flower said: "It's brilliant news that we have been able to get Chris Gayle with us at this year's CPL 2020. I have got a long association with Chris running all the way back to his debut Test match in Trinidad back in 2000. I've seen his exploits in all three forms of the game and I am really looking forward to working with him and Daren Sammy toward a special year for St Lucia cricket."

The CPL 2020 is slated to take place between August 19 and September 26 but the tournament organisers are currently monitoring the situation with COVID-19 pandemic bringing the world to a virtual standstill.

(With IANS inputs)