Chris Gayle is likely to be penalised for his recent outburst against Ramnaresh Sarwan, said Cricket West Indies chief Ricky Skerritt and hoped that it doesn’t end the former’s “outstanding career”.

The 40-year-old Gayle, who was signed by St Lucia Zouks for the 2020 season of the Caribbean Premier League, called his former teammate “worse than coronavirus”, accusing the Guyanese of plotting his exit from CPL outfit Jamaica Tallawahs.

Skerritt said though it is an “interpersonal battle”, he doesn’t expect the controversy to die down so easily.

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“I’m sure there is some kind of discussion taking place at the moment between Chris and the CPL because the CPL has rules which will come into view in Kingston because Chris is signed into a franchise team,” Skerrit was quoted as saying by Jamaica-Gleaner.

“I hope it doesn’t become a world matter in terms of the career of Gayle, because it’s been a very outstanding career and I really wouldn’t want to see it brought to an end by this event,” he added.

The opener had claimed that Sarwan was behind his ouster as the former middle-order batsman wanted to take control of the franchise.

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“Sarwan, you are worse than the coronavirus right now,” Gayle had said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.

“What transpired with the Tallawahs, you have a big part to play because you and the owner are like this (very close).”

Skerritts said it was an unfortunate incident and hoped it doesn’t have an impact on Gayle’s career.

“It’s certainly not something that I enjoyed looking at or reading about . Personally, I think that was unfortunate, but the process will have to take its course and that process will get triggered because he is a contracted player in the CPL within the West Indies league,” Skerritt said.

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“If a player is contracted to a club or a franchise or to Cricket West Indies that kind of behaviour brings that contract into some level of disrepute,” he added.

(with PTI inputs)