Jamaica, May 7: Explosive opener Chris Gayle has been named vice-captain of the West Indies team for the World Cup, beginning May 30 in the UK.

Gayle, who is set to retire from ODIs after his fifth World Cup appearance, is in top form going into the tournament, having scored close to 500 runs in the IPL. He was also in devastating form in the home series against England, hitting two hundreds and as many half-centuries in the five-match series.

"It is always an honour to represent the West Indies in any format and this World Cup for me is special," Gayle said after being named Jason Holder's deputy on Monday.

Gayle is a former West Indies captain who last led the regional side in June 2010.

"As a senior player, it is my responsibility to support the captain and everyone else in the team. This will probably be the biggest World Cup, so there will be great expectations and I know we will do very well for the people of the West Indies," said the 39-year-old, who has amassed 10151 runs in 289 ODIs at 38.16.

It was also announced that Shai Hope will be the vice-captain in the on-going tri-series in Ireland involving the hosts and Bangladesh.

"It's a tremendous honour to be appointed vice captain for this series here in Ireland. Ahead of this tournament, I was asked to take on this role and I was happy to accept. Anything I'm asked to do for West Indies cricket I'm always happy and willing to put my hand up, so this is great," said Hope.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is likely to convene a meeting of chief ministers of southern states to oppose the proposed delimitation exercise, News18 reported on Wednesday.

All southern states, except Andhra Pradesh, are currently ruled by opposition parties. Andhra Pradesh has an NDA government led by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana are opposing the delimitation, saying it would unfairly penalise their successful demographic management and would result in a substantial loss of political representation.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin had last year tried to build a coalition of southern states and a few other opposition-ruled states under the banner of a “Joint Action Committee” to oppose the delimitation process.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, participating in the Joint Action Council meeting convened by Stalin, had said the proposed delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies is hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles. He had said that southern states were being “punished for sincerely implementing the National Population Policy of 1976”.