Kingston, Jamaica – Chris Gayle says he is looking forward to taking a three-month break from cricket.

He made the revelation last weekend shortly after guiding Jamaica Tallawahs to the Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title at Queen’s Park Oval.

“It’s been a long road, and I am very, very tired mentally,” said Gayle, who captured the man-of-the-match award in the final.

“It was a challenging time batting-wise in the Tri-nation series and then against Pakistan, and to have come and played a captain’s part in the CPL has been really, really, stressing.”

Gayle, who scored 47 not out in the final to lead the Tallawahs to a seven-wicket win over Guyana Amazon Warriors, started the year with a stint with Sydney Thunder in the Australia Big Bash League.

He went on to represent West Indies in a one-day and Twenty20 International series tour to the Oceanic country in late January before returning to the Caribbean to participate in Test and one-day international series against Zimbabwe.

This was then followed by a run with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the popular Indian Premier League in April.

The ICC Champions Trophy in England in May followed soon after, with his last international duties coming in June and July.

He participated in a Tri-Nation one-day series involving India and Sri Lanka and a one-day and Twenty20 International series in the Caribbean featuring Pakistan.

The 33-year-old, however, after making a century in the first match of the Tri-Nation series, found runs difficult to come by, and serious questions were raised about his form.

He failed to get to 40 in his subsequent 12 innings in all formats, and was only to reach the figure in his fourth match of the CPL.

Since then, however, he has shown improvement, scoring 43, 51 and 47 not out in the latter part of the tournament, to help the Tallawahs to victory.

The big-hitting left-hander finished fourth in the batting rankings with 234 runs from nine games at an average of 29.25 behind Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik, who finished first with 272 from eight games at an average of 34.

“It’s been quite a lot, and I am really, really happy that it is over now. No more cricket for me until the next three months,” Gayle said.

West Indies are slated to tour New Zealand starting in December.

They are down to play three Tests, five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 Internationals.

First Published In The Jamaica Gleaner.