West Indies coach Phil Simmons has rubbished the reports claiming a rift within the white-ball side led by Kieron Pollard.
Simmons' comments came hours after Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Ricky Skerritt stated that such reports were circulated to show the West Indies captain in a poor light.
It all started after several reports claimed that Odean Smith was being victimised by the team after the all-rounder was left out of the playing XI for the third T20I against England.
"For me, that can't happen when I'm here. You don't victimise anyone. You don't try to pull down anyone. You try to make players a better person first of all, and a better cricketer afterwards. In my coaching career and even in my playing career, you look to help the man next to you. And that's one thing I've been preaching in this team, and in all the teams that I've dealt with. So, there is no such thing as victimisation here and there will be none as long as I'm around," ESPNcricinfo quoted Simmons as saying.
Odean Smith had featured in the first two T20Is of the five-match series. While he bowled just one over in the series opener, he was not called on to bowl in the second T20I.
"I think you're going down the wrong line with this. Let me explain something to you, and I'm saying it again. We need to stop this foolishness that we're going on with. We sit down and we look at the best team for the day. And if Odean wasn't in the best team for the day, it is because we thought that Rovman was better suited for yesterday," said Simmons.
"All those who want to sit out there and preach about victimisation, I think they need to look within themselves. There's no victimisation in selection in West Indies cricket, and there's no victimisation in this team in playing anyone. So we need to start stepping away from that and letting the people who are pushing this know that that's not happening. I'm not going to be answering any more questions about things like that," he added.
The Kieron Pollard-led West Indies team is leading the T20I series 2-1 against England, with two more games to be held in Barbados on January 29 and January 30.
After the England series, West Indies’ white-ball squad is due to tour India for three ODIs and as many T20Is. The six limited-overs games will be held in Ahmedabad and Kolkata from February 6 to February 20.
