'I am gonna stay quiet' - Andre Russell hits back at West Indies management

West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell took a dig at the team’s head coach Phil Simmons and chief selector Desmond Haynes after the duo commented on the unavailability of key players in the side. Simmons bemoaned the absence of some of their well-known white-ball cricket players after their heart-breaking defeat against India at home, saying that the administrators wouldn’t beg them to represent the West Indies.

The T20 World Cup edition of 2022 is rapidly approaching, and the competing teams are assembling a strong team for the major competition. But in the case of the West Indies, they have not had the services of some of their key players in the recent past, which led to the two-time T20 World Champions losing back-to-back series against Bangladesh and India across formats.

There are many people missing from the list. Russell, alongside Sunil Narine, is currently in the UK and playing The Hundred, and as per West Indies chief selector Desmond Haynes, the all-rounder is not available for selection.”From what I have gathered, I think he (Russell) is unavailable because he hasn’t made himself available,” Haynes was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

After Phil Simmons and Haynes’ comments on the team members missing out of the games for their national side, Andre 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.

West Indies fight their way to make a place in the World Cup Super 12

Eight teams have so far qualified for the Super 12 of the T20 World Cup, which is set to begin in October in Australia, and West Indies is not a part of it. The Caribbean side will be playing the Qualifiers, which is scheduled before the Super 12 stage of the World Cup, and if they end up in either first or second place in their group, they’ll get a chance to fight for the coveted cup.

“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.