Jamaica Tallawahs is the weirdest' team I've ever played for, says Russell

London [UK], April 30 (ANI): Caribbean Premier League (CPL) franchise Jamaica Tallawahs has been facing flak left, right and centre for its conduct with the players and now, all-rounder Andre Russell has labelled the side as the 'weirdest' team ever.
Russell has already announced that 2020 would be his last season with the Jamaica Tallawahs.
"I am a guy that plays to win. And I have won 13 championships (T20 titles). So, I do not play to lose. If I am picking a friend I believe in that friend. But the way Tallawahs went about things, that first, they went in in the draft, on the day of the draft, I was trying to reach out to these people. No reply," ESPNCricinfo quoted Russell as saying.
"This is the weirdest franchise that I have ever played in. And when I mean weird, people that are supposed to reach out to you as an individual, and I am not just a normal player in the Jamaica Tallawahs team, I was once a leader, I realise how they look at things and how they do things," he added.
In the 2019 season, Russell played just five matches, scoring 99 runs and taking six wickets.
The all-rounder said that he was treated like a debutant by the side and the management did not involve him in any decision making process.
"I felt like a first-class player that just made his debut one game ago. Your opinion is not valuable. That's how I was treated," Russell said.
On Monday, Chris Gayle blamed Tallawahs' chief executive officer Jeff Miller and assistant coach Ramnaresh Sarwan for influencing the owner Kris Persaud to release him for the 2020 season.
Gayle went on to label Sarwan a snake and back-bitter.
"So someone has to be in his ears telling him to get rid of Gayle. Sarwan, you are worse than the coronavirus right now. What transpired with the Tallahwahs, you had a big part to play. Sarwan, you are a snake. You know, you are not the most loved person in the Caribbean. You are still stabbing people in the back," Gayle had said in a video posted on his Youtube channel.
Gayle is the leading T20 run-scorer of all time as well as the man with the most centuries in the format.
He is also the leading CPL run-scorer, having amassed 2,344 runs in the tournament. (ANI)