Windies pacer Shannon Gabriel charged by ICC over his 'gay' remark to England captain Joe Root

West Indies player Shannon Gabriel has been charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after a heated exchange with England captain Joe Root. The incident took place in the recently concluded third Test match between England and West Indies.

It is speculated that the Windies pacer launched a homophobic slut towards the English duo, Joe Root and Joe Denly. The stump-mics failed to pick up the exact words from Gabriel but the English captain was heard saying, “Don’t use it as an insult. There’s nothing wrong with being gay.”

However no action was taken initially, but with the incident attracting widespread media attention, the ICC decided to charge Gabriel under article 2.13, which relates to the personal abuse of a player.

The ICC released a statement following the incident, which read, “Shannon Gabriel has been charged with a breach Article 2.13 of the ICC Code of Conduct. The charge, which was laid by match umpires, will now be dealt with by Match Referee Jeff Crowe. Until the proceedings have concluded, the ICC will not comment further.”

In a post match press-conference, England captain Joe Root said, “The ICC have got to handle things – I am not in a position to comment. The series has been played in the right manner between the two sides. They (Windies) are a good bunch of guys and it would be a shame if this tarnishes it.

As a player, you feel you have responsibilities to uphold on the field and I stand by what I did. I just did what I thought was right. You have responsibility to go about things in a certain manner on the field and it felt appropriate to act how I did,” Joe Root added.

As far as the match is concerned, England beat West Indies by 232 runs in the third match. But the Windies had already won the series after winning the first two games of the three-match series.