West Indies’ hard-hitting batsman Chris Gayle has been making the headlines for the past few days over his verbal attack on his former West Indies team-mate Ramnaresh Sarwan.
The ‘Universal Boss’ Gayle, in a video on YouTube, termed Sarwan worse than Coronavirus and even blamed Jamaica Tallawahs’ assistant coach for being released by the franchise ahead of the 2020 season of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
However, the St Lucia Zouks snapped Gayle – who had signed a three-year contract with the Tallawahs last year at the auction for the CPL 2020. He will now play with Darren Sammy in the tournament.
The CPL side Tallawahs come out in support of Sarwan, saying he had nothing to do with the decision while clarifying that Gayle was not retained for the CPL 2020 only due to the business and cricketing reasons.
Well, finally, Sarwan broke his silence on the matter, as he strongly denied any involvement in the decision-making process of the Jamaica Tallawahs regarding leaving Gayle for the CPL 2020.
Sarwan stated in a statement, “I categorically deny any involvement in the decision or the decision-making process, which led to Gayle’s non-selection to represent the Jamaica Tallawahs in the 2020 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) tournament.”
Rejecting Gayle’s allegation that he encouraged foreign players to disrespect him last season, he said: “I really do not understand how he came to such a conclusion and this simply is not true.”
Sarwan further revealed that he gave up the post of the head coach of the Tallawahs team for the 2019 season because of Gayle as he wanted Donovan Miller to lead the team as a coach.
He further explained, “In my conversation with Gayle about the team, he informed me that Donovan Miller, a Jamaican and a very close friend of Chris, should be appointed head coach as he would better understand the culture of the Jamaican players.”
Sarwan signed off by saying, “I conveyed Gayle’s view to the CEO, informing the CEO that I would be happy to step aside for Miller’s appointment, given that Chris feels strongly about his appointment. My priority was what would be in the best interest of the team. Gayle is fully aware of the background, yet he accuses me of fighting to be the head coach.”
(With AFP Inputs)
