Thunder coach backs struggling Gayle

Sydney: Sydney Thunder head coach Shane Duff has thrown his support behind embattled West Indies star Chris Gayle, following the opener's latest failure. Gayle managed just nine runs as Thunder crashed to a four-wicket loss to Sydney Sixers, their sixth straight loss in the Australian Big Bash, reports CMC.

"It's always the issue if you're not scoring runs. People think he's not trying. But I can assure you he's giving his absolute best to the team. He's just having a bad run at the moment. He's a human being and he's definitely hurting and I know how determined he is to score runs for us and help the team to win a game," Duff said.

Gayle arrived at Sydney on a reported Australian USD250,000 deal but has scraped together just 70 runs from five innings.

Gayle managed just nine runs as Thunder crashed to a four-wicket loss to Sydney Sixers.

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