Caribbean Premier League (CPL) franchise Jamaica Tallawahs were in news recently, after releasing their three-time title-winning Captain Chris Gayle before the start of the 2020 edition.

Gayle, regarded as the best T20 batsman of all time, took shots at former teammate Ramnaresh Sarwan and called him worse than Coronavirus. He blamed him for his departure from the successful franchise and joining St. Lucia Zouks.

"So someone has to be in his years telling him to get rid of Gayle. Sarwan, you are worse than the coronavirus right now. What transpired with the Tallahwahs, you had a big part to play. Sarwan, you are a snake. You know, you are not the most loved person in the Caribbean. You are still stabbing people in the back," Gayle had said.

However, the management of the Tallawahs has said that releasing Chris Gayle has nothing to do with Sarwan and it was a decision was completely based on "business and cricketing reasoning".

"Weirdest" team I have turned up for – Andre Russell hits out at Jamaica Tallawahs

"Gayle gave several reasons for the decision that was made not to retain him in the Tallawahs. However, the truth is that this decision was made collectively by the Ownership and Management team which did not include Ramnaresh Sarwan and based purely on business and cricketing reasoning,” the management said in a statement.

“Further, the Ownership and Management of the Tallawahs have no political affiliation with any political organization in any country of the Caribbean," the CPL side added.

Gayle has played CPL for Tallawahs and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the past. He has won the CPL title twice with the Tallawahs and played in the final with the Patriots in 2017.

"The Tallawahs had a very disappointing season in CPL 2019 where the team finished last in the tournament. The Ownership and Management team has exercised its rights in the selection of players for CPL 2020 for the betterment of the team," read Tallawahs statement.

(ANI inputs)