Story That Was Told Was Not Entirely True: Gabriel on Homophobic Comment on Root

London: West Indies fast bowler Shannon Gabriel said that his comments towards England captain Joe Root during the St. Lucia Test in 2019 was blown out of proportion and is now in the past.

"To be honest that was in the past," Gabriel said in a virtual interaction with reporters in the run-up to West Indies' first Test against England.

"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. I've just come here to play good cricket if selected, and do my best for West Indies cricket."

Gabriel is in the reserves for the squad that will tour England for a three-match Test series, which will be the first since the cricket calendar grinded to a halt in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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The 32-year-old was accused of homophobia after Root was heard telling him that "there's nothing wrong with being gay" following a mid-pitch altercation. Gabriel later claimed that he had asked Root "do you like boys?"

It resulted in Gabriel being slapped with a four-match ban.

"I just think the way they dealt with it was blown way out of proportion," he said. "The story that was told was not entirely true, but I just want to move on and forget that."

Meanwhile, Not pleased with his dismal Test record, West Indies batsman Shai Hope is determined to improve his performance by providing his team good starts during next month's three-match series against England.

Despite being team's key batting mainstay in the ODIs, the 26-year-old from Barbados has scored just 1498 runs in 31 Tests at an average of 27.23. He has 3289 runs at 52.2 in 78 ODIs.

"You're going to be hard on yourself, especially when you know that you can get something done and it's not really portraying on your stats card," Hope said during a video conference on Tuesday.

"My runs and stats aren't exactly where I want them to be but I'm working towards that. I just have to continue believing in myself and back my ability because I know I can get it done. The key is to make sure that I take use of these opportunities and do whatever I can to make the team win."