Ramnaresh Sarwan Dismisses Chris Gayle's Allegations Against Him

Former West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan has reacted to the allegations against him levied by his former teammate Chris Gayle. In a sensational outburst, Gayle insisted that Ramnaresh Sarwan had a big role to play in his ouster from the Jamaica Tallawahs. The veteran batsman also called his former teammate “snake”, “vindictive”, “immature”.

Gayle, who was hoping to end his career with the Jamaica-based outfit, said he was undermined by several people with Ramnaresh Sarwan being the prime among them. Earlier this month, Gayle joined St Lucia Zouks as their marquee player. However, Ramnaresh Sarwan, who is now the head coach of Tallawahs, has dismissed Gayle’s allegations and called his outburst as “unfortunate” in a Facebook post on Thursday (April 30).

“Christopher Gayle’s outburst disseminated via a YouTube video a few days ago is quite unfortunate. 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,” Ramnaresh Sarwan said.

The 39-year old further insisted that Gayle’s allegations were “false” and stated that it was merely aimed at tarnishing the reputation of some people.

“In that video, he has leveled false allegations and tarnished the good name and reputation of a series of persons. I was the focus of most of the onslaughts. I reply, not because I feel that Gayle’s rantings are worthy of it, but because I feel that the public’s record must be set straight and also, to protect the character and careers of so many people, whose image he sought to besmirch,” he said.

Ramnaresh Sarwan proceeded to call Gayle an “extraordinary talent”. He also narrated an incident where he rallied around Gayle when calls were made by Ian Chappel to ban him from international cricket for his remarks against a female journalist in Australia.

“Let me make it abundantly clear, I have played with Gayle from the inception of my international career and I have always respected him as an extraordinary talent, a colleague and most importantly, a close friend. Hence, my utter shock by these scandalous allegations. He was welcomed in and is loved by my immediate family and has hurt them terribly.

“Fans will recall, that when Ian Chappell called for Gayle to be banned from international cricket because of remarks he made to a female journalist, I issued a public call for fans to rally around Gayle. I stood up for him on every such occasion. But this missive is not about that,” Ramnaresh Sarwan said.

During his outburst, Gayle had also claimed that Ramnaresh Sarwan had asked the overseas players of the team to disrespect him. Speaking about that, the Tallawahs coach said:

“I absolutely reject Gayle’s allegation that I encouraged foreign players to disrespect him, I really do not understand how he came to such a conclusion and this simply is not true.”

Sarwan concluded by expressing his displeasure at how things have unfolded and wished Gayle for his next stint in the CPL.

“I express my deep regret on this unfortunate saga and I hope that it will lower neither Gayle’s nor I, in their estimation. I thank all those who have conveyed their support to me and rallied around me during this unfortunate turn of events, I take this opportunity to wish Chris all the best with his new team in the upcoming CPL,” he said.

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