MANCHESTER, June 19: West Indies pacer Shannon Gabriel says he wants to forget last year�s controversy involving him and England skipper Joe Root but insisted that the truth did not come out in its entirety.
Gabriel insisted that he is not harbouring any hard feelings towards the hosts as they prepare to take on England in a Test series, beginning July 8.
Gabriel had copped a four-match ban for throwing �personal abuse� at Root in February 2019 during the St. Lucia Test match, though his comments were never made public.
Root was heard on the stump-microphone, telling Gabriel �don�t use it as an insult. There�s nothing wrong with being gay�, while the West Indian�s comments were not picked up.
Subsequently, Gabriel was slapped with a four-match ban and fined 75 per cent of his match fee by the ICC for apparently using homophobic remark.
�To be honest that was in the past. I don�t really think about it too much. Whatever happened or whatever was said, I don�t really want to harp on about that, I�m just looking to the future now,� Gabriel was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
�I�ve just come here to play good cricket if selected, and do my best for West Indies cricket. I think the way they dealt with it was blown way out of proportion. The story that was told was not entirely true, but I just want to move on and forget that,� he said. � PTI
