West Indies batsman Chris Gayle has labelled former teammate and captain Ramnaresh Sarwan ‘vindictive, immature’ and ‘worse than the coronavirus’.

Gayle was recently ousted by the Jamaica Tallawahs ahead of this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League and has joined the St Lucia Zouks.

‘When I came back to the Tallawahs, Sarwan was assistant coach. Myself and Sarwan had a discussion, he wanted to be the head coach. When I left Jamaica Tallawahs, that team was a high-spirited team. But the amount of complaints I used to get when I wasn’t there, the amount of problems they had with Sarwan – Russell was the captain at that time – the amount of problems that Sarwan and the captain have … so many players were traumatised because of Sarwan,’ said Gayle.

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Gayle and Sarwan’s international careers coincided from 1999 to 2013. The latter has retired, while the former is still active in professional cricket.

‘The amount of lies he used to tell on the players – him and the team management were not getting on. That goes to show your own people undermine you. Doesn’t matter how far you and them are coming from, they still undermine you. Out of that era, I’m the only one active, playing. Everyone else retired. I’m the last man standing within that era and I’m still going strong,’ added Gayle.

‘So, it kind of hurt them to see Chris Gayle still playing and still being successful. I’m talking about past and present players. But I’m dealing with you, Sarwan. I’ll deal with the others whenever that time comes.’

Whether the 2020 CPL goes ahead as scheduled, from 19 August to 26 September, remains in the balance. Plenty of professional cricket – and sport in general – has been suspended amid the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

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