Hit for Six - Chris Gayle in YouTube rant about Tallawahs departure

Gayle was in a militant mood on social media recently as he has finally given his side of the story regarding his exit from the Jamaica Tallawahs Caribbean Premier League (CPL) franchise.

In a three-part YouTube video confessional, the ‘Universe Boss’, as he refers to himself, alluded to being victimised by the Tallawahs management spearheaded by Chief Executive Officer Jeff Miller and assistant coach Ramnaresh Sarwan.

Gayle, who had signed a three-year contract with the Tallawahs last year, spoke candidly about the events leading up to his not being retained by the Tallawahs, which led to the veteran left-hander switching franchises to the St Lucia Zouks.

PAY CUT

“About a month ago, Jeff Miller and I spoke about retention of players and that I was still a part of the team and that they needed my input,” Gayle said. “However, he also asked me if I would take a pay cut as the franchise was struggling, and I said I will take the pay cut. He then said he would get back to me.”

As things went on, Gayle said he was then approached twice by Miller to come down further on his fees, with the latter occasion being on the retention submission deadline day.

Gayle said he rejected the final price cut and the last thing Miller said to him was that he would respond the day after the retention deadline.

“Jeff didn’t contact me to say ‘Chris, we’re not signing you’, or ‘We’re not retaining you’. He hasn’t come back to me to say anything,” Gayle said.

“They knew a month in advance that they didn’t want me. Jeff submitted the names and it only came to my knowledge when the CPL people called me to tell me that they didn’t see my name on the Tallawahs list.”

Gayle hinted that the decision to not re-sign him was heavily influenced by persons within the team management that were close to owner Kris Persaud.

Gayle mentioned that assistant coach Ramnaresh Sarwan wanted to be the coach of the Tallawahs last season, but Gayle was not for that decision as he believed the former Windies batsman did not have enough experience to lead the team, hence the appointment of Donovan Miller as head coach.

He said that Sarwan was the main instigator in much of the internal problems that transpired with the team, and that he is “despicable,” “worse than the coronavirus,” and “a snake.”

“We had a good team, but so many of the players were traumatised because of Sarwan,” Gayle said. “The amount of lies this guy tell on the players. He and the team management wasn’t getting along as he wanted to be the manager and coach.”

Gayle said that Sarwan was like an owner of the team and that the Guyanese coach complained that there were too many Jamaicans in the franchise.

Having now moved on to join Daren Sammy at the St Lucia Zouks, Gayle said he is looking forward to a new chapter once the CPL gets started.

“I am looking forward to joining the Zouks family,” he said. “I thought about joining them about two years ago, as I wanted a different challenge, but I chose the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots instead. But now, I am upbeat and ready to burn some teams, as this time the Zouks is really on fire.”

The Gleaner reached out to Miller and Sarwan for a response to Gayle’s comments but calls to both went unanswered.