‘Asked Vijay Mallya To Give This Bloke A Try’: How Lalit Modi Got Chris Gayle Into RCB

Lalit Modi, the founder of the Indian Premier League, takes pride in how the tournament has grown into the world’s premier T20 competition. It keeps on offering opportunities to both rising talents and those seeking a comeback. Over the years, it has helped shape several superstars. One of them is Chris Gayle. Though not officially retired, Gayle’s T20 legacy remains unmatched.

Having represented over 35 teams globally, he has amassed 14,562 runs, including 22 centuries and 88 fifties. His IPL numbers are equally remarkable. In 142 matches for three franchises, Gayle scored 4,965 runs at a strike rate of 148.96, with six hundreds and 31 fifties. His unbeaten 175 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Pune Warriors India remains the highest individual

score in IPL history.

However, there was a phase when Gayle went unsold in the 2011 auction amid poor form and mounting debts. In desperation, he reached out to Modi. Speaking to Michael Vaughan, Modi revealed how he played a role in bringing Gayle to RCB, a move that reignited his career.

“There was a time in 2011, I remember very clearly, I just left the IPL, came back to London, and my good friend Chris Gayle wasn’t picked up at the auction, and I got a call from him,” Modi told Vaughan.

“‘Nobody picked me up at the auction,’ he said.”

“I think he didn’t perform. IPL is all about performing. He played for the Kolkata Knight Riders. My feeling is you didn’t perform. You just got lazy about it. He said, ‘I have a huge debt coming and the thing I have, I need to make my bills pay’.”

Modi further said he dialled a few numbers, and all of them refused to rope in Gayle. That’s when he knocked on Vijay Mallya’s door.

“I made a few calls, call 123. Everybody said no. I went across the road to Vijay Mallya’s house. I said, ‘Vijay, give this bloke a try’. He said, ‘I have an opening, but I pay him if he performs’.”

“I told Chris to go there, perform. He set world records. He wrote his own checkbook, he wrote his own life. He never looked back after that. He went and performed and it was the hunger in him that made it do it,” Modi added.

During the 2011 IPL season, RCB hit a major setback when fast bowler Dirk Nannes was ruled out early due to a side strain. In a move that proved transformative, the franchise brought in Chris Gayle as a mid-season replacement. Gayle made an instant impact, smashing a century on debut and dramatically reviving RCB’s campaign.