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West Indies' star all-rounder has taken an aim at the team's head coach Phil Simmons and chief selector Desmond Haynes after they questioned the unavailability of big players in the fold. The Caribbean coach rued the absence of their key white-ball cricketers after their dismal show against India at home as he went on to say that the administrators wouldn’t beg the players to represent the West Indies.
Russell, though, suggested with a hint that there is more to the issue than him simply refusing to play for the West Indies in preference of leagues around the world.
While taking a dig at Phil Simmons, Russell took to his Instagram to share a screen grab of Simmons’ comments and captioned it saying: “I know this was coming but am gonna stay quiet!!!,” and he also added the ‘anger’ and ‘clap’ emojis.
Russell is playing The Hundred in the UK as he missed the T20Is at home versus India and now New Zealand. He was just unveiled as one of the overseas players registering for the inaugural edition of the International League T20 (ILT20) in UAE, scheduled for early next year.
Apart from Russell, mystery spin legend Sunil Narine, too, hasn't been available for selection. This, at a time when Evin Lewis and Oshane Thomas haven't appeared for the fitness tests that the team management and selectors had scheduled for them.
“I don’t think that I should be begging people to play for the West Indies. It hurts. There’s no other way to put it. But what can you do? I don’t think that I should be begging people to play for their countries. I think if you want to represent West Indies, you will make yourself available. Life has changed, in that people have the opportunities to go different places, and if they choose that over West Indies, that’s just how it is,” Simmons had commented earlier.
