Punjab Kings suffered a jolt ahead of their crucial match against Kolkata Knight Riders with star batsman Chris Gayle announcing that he would be leaving the IPL bio-bubble due to bubble fatigue.

The West Indies player wishes to “recharge” himself before the T20 World Cup.

“Over the last few months, I have been a part of the CWI (Cricket West Indies) bubble, CPL bubble followed by the IPL bubble, and I wish to mentally recharge and refresh myself,” Gayle said in a statement released through the IPL franchise.

“I want to refocus on helping the West Indies in the T20 World Cup and would like to take a break in Dubai.

My thanks to the Punjab Kings for giving me the time off,” Gayle added.

The 42-year-old has already played 37 T20 matches this year.

The KL Rahul-led Kings have struggled for consistency and can’t lose on Friday if they want to stay in the race for a play-offs berth.

Their job would not be easy against a resurgent Knight Riders, who have been a revelation in the UAE leg of this IPL, winning three out of their four games so far. Eoin Morgan’s men are fourth in the standings.

Captain Morgan’s lean patch with the bat has not affected the overall team performance.

Along with Sunil Narine, who’s gradually returning to his best, one of the biggest positives for the Knight Riders in this second phase has been the discovery of Venkatesh Iyer, who has provided some much-needed thrust at the top.

Iyer didn’t get too many runs versus Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals after fluent knocks against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians. But in the last two matches, he compensated those couple of low scores with some effective medium-pace bowling.

In fact, Iyer’s spell of 2/29 in four overs against the Capitals served the team really well, especially after pacer Lockie Ferguson failed to finish his quota owing to a hamstring niggle.

Talking about injuries, the Knights are likely to again miss the services of all-rounder Andre Russell, who too is nursing a hamstring trouble.