Winds of change blowing for Gayle?

Chris Gayle's omission to accommodate AB de Villiers in Royal Challengers Bangalore's XI on Monday night against Kings XI Punjab was a simple case of numbers; specifically, fitting five overseas players into four available slots.

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RCB allrounder Stuart Binny said as much post-match, after the Bangalore-based franchise fell to their second defeat in three games this campaign and fans were left to wonder what might have been had their Jamaican heavyweight swaggered out at the top of the order.

All that despite de Villiers stealing the headlines in the loss with a rollicking 89 not out from 46 balls.

"Shane Watson has batted in the top order for all his career, so there was no question of changing his position," Binny said of the RCB captain.

"We had no option but to drop Chris Gayle to make way for AB in the top order.

"It was not a tactical strategy but simply we had no other choice.

"As soon as AB de Villiers is fit he walks into RCB's playing XI."

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The fact that it was Gayle who was left sitting on the sidelines would have been inconceivable four years ago, but an altogether different case of numbers might go some way toward explaining why he was the man to make way, with pace pair Billy Stanlake from Australia and Tymal Mills of England completing the overseas compliment.

Gayle, 37, has posted scores of 32 and six this tournament and is just 25 runs shy of becoming the first player to 10,000 T20 runs – the left-hander is a mile ahead of his nearest rival, Brendon McCullum, who has tallied 7,411 runs.

However, a look at the past six seasons of his IPL career does suggest a significant diminishing in his returns.

In 43 matches between 2011 and 2013, Gayle piled up 2,049 runs at an extraordinary average of 62.09, including four centuries and 14 half-centuries.

The greatest demonstration of his stunning hitting ability came in IPL 2013 when, while perhaps at the peak of his powers, he blasted a world record 175 from just 66 balls, with 13 fours and an unsurpassed 17 sixes.

But Gayle's apogee also marked the beginning of a descent; since the beginning of the 2014 tournament, the West Indies veteran has scored 946 runs in 34 matches at 29.56, with one century and four fifties, effectively halving his output from the previous three years.

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The question for Bangalore will now be whether – in the wake of two matches in which they've failed to post 160 – they look to reshuffle their side to factor in their big-hitting opener, or they persist with the new-look order minus one of their greatest drawcards.

Chris Gayle's future at the franchise could well depend on the answer.