West Indies captain Chris Gayle has hit out at England batsman Kevin Pietersen for comments in a newspaper interview about team-mate Shivnarine Chanderpaul.Pietersen was quoted as saying that Chanderpaul "never fields" after making a big score and "plays for himself".
But Gayle said Pietersen had "no right" to make such a remark.
"I did talk to him and told him 'You don't need to stoop to that level'. He didn't actually apologise and if he could apologise that would be nice."
Chanderpaul, 34, is a veteran of 119 Tests and 244 one-day internationals and has scored more than 16,500 runs for West Indies in all forms of the game.
Pietersen's comments about him appeared in a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Mail newspaper.
But Gayle said: "Whatever issues he had, he should have kept to himself. I've played with Shiv for years and, as a captain, I get tremendous support from him both on and off the field.
"His batting in both forms of the game has been brilliant and to hear these sorts of comments out in public has been very disappointing."
He added: "We're all big men. There's no need to go to that level and try and degrade other players.
"No-one wants to be degraded in this manner. We're all human beings and everybody is playing this sport to enjoy the game but to take it to that level is very disappointing."
In the interview, Pietersen also said he was "at the end of his tether" as a result of his sacking as England captain and the team's lack of success on the current tour to the Caribbean.
His mood will not have been improved by the manner of England's eight-wicket defeat in Barbados on Friday when they were all out for 117 and the home side knocked off the runs in 14 overs - with Gayle making 80 off 43 balls.