West Indies all-rounder Sherfane Rutherford has finally broken his silence on his controversial exit from the Caribbean Premier League 2024. Rutherford, who played for the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the CPL 2024, was suspended from the team midway through the tournament .
The all-rounder opened up about the incident and harshly criticized his team owner for his suspension. He believes that team owners should not talk to players if they do not have any knowledge about how to play.
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Sherfane Rutherford criticizes the owner of the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots
While speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing IL T20, Sherfane Rutherford spoke about the unfortunate incident and believes that a player should be treated with respect. He further stated that the owner did not play cricket and therefore will not understand the good and bad days of the sport.
“It’s important that you respect the player because at the end of the day, it’s my job and this is what I want to do. So I don’t think he wants to not play intentionally. The owner didn’t play any cricket. Obviously, if you never play this sport, you don’t you would understand the best days, the good days and the bad days; they are always there in cricket,” Rutherford said.
“So it’s just emotions. I think he just let go of emotions. As adults, we have to control that because, at the end of the day, our decision can take us further. So I think he was the one who acted wrong,” she told Cricbuzz. .
How did this incident occur?
Speaking more about the incident, Sherfane Rutherford explained the entire incident and how it all started. After being sacked for a duck, he received a message from the team owner blaming him for the team’s loss.
The SUV was not happy with the timing of the message and immediately conveyed his message to the owner, who is a businessman of Indian origin. The owner did not like the way Sherfane Rutherford responded and therefore asked him to leave the team.
“After a game against Barbados (that) we lost, the owner texted me about making the team lose. He said, ‘I made them lose the game.’ I responded in some way. That’s not a good time to send a message to a player,” revealed Sherfane Rutherford.
“We’re professionals, we have feelings. So obviously when things aren’t going well for you, you just want to reflect. So when he texted me at the wrong time, I texted him back. That’s where they decided for me to leave.” “, said.
Previous cases of team owners involved in team matters
This is not the first time franchise league owners have been criticized for getting involved in team affairs. In IPL 2024, Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka was criticized for speaking rudely to his team captain KL Rahul after losing a game to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Goenka and Rahul were seen in a lively discussion after the match in which the owner was clearly upset and let out his emotions in front of the public camera. The argument became a hot topic during the tournament and Goenka received criticism for dealing with a national cricketer in such a manner.