Chris Gayle is not a happy man. And his anger stems over remarks made by Kevin Pietersen who himself appears frustrated and has chosen to vent it out on one of West Indies’ finest.
In a newspaper interview, former England captain Kevin Pietersen stated that he felt Shivnarine Chanderpaul was a “selfish” player who when he made runs, chose rather not to take the field. He felt that though Shivnarine suffered groin injury and cramps, in his opinion, Shivnarine was finding excuses not to do the fielding bit of the match which he interpreted as being individualistic in a team sport.
West Indies captain Gayle though has come out in defense of the former West Indian captain, stating that Chanderpaul was a team man and perfect player who was bound to suffer injuries when playing a long innings.
Gayle stated he was disappointed in KP over the remarks and told he that had told the England player himself. Gayle said, “”Shiv is a good team man who has made a lot of big contributions to our team throughout both the Test and one-day series, he is a tremendous player.”
It did not cut ice with the tall West Indian left hander when KP stated that he though Gayle was funny, had a heart of gold and played his cricket in a relaxed and yet competitive manner.
Gayle added, “We’re all big men. There’s no need to go to that level and try and degrade other players. No-one wants to be degraded in this manner. We’re all human beings and everybody is playing this sport to enjoy the game but to take it to that level is very disappointing. Whatever issues he had, he should have kept to himself. I’ve played with Shiv for years and, as a captain, I get tremendous support from him both on and off the field. His batting in both forms of the game has been brilliant and to hear these sorts of comments out in public has been very disappointing.”
Pietersen, at the moment, needs a rapid reading lesson on how to fin friends and influence people as he is becoming increasingly agonizing on his fellow cricketers. One can only hope that between the end of this tour and the start of the IPL, Pietersen manages to find his equilibrium and his wits because it certainly will not be easy leading the Royal Challengers Bangalore after Vijay Mallya bought him for the highest auction sum at the IPL with an equal measure of expectations of him.
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