In a recent dispute with Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) Eoin Morgan and Tim Southee, Gautam Gambir, Irfan Pathan, and Ajit Agarkar backed Delhi Capitals’ (DC) Ravichandran Ashwin.
When Ashwin went for a run after the ball had hit Morgan’s batting partner and captain Rishabh Pant, Morgan was irritated. When Ashwin removed Morgan, he celebrated wildly, and his actions received mixed reactions from veteran cricketers. Shane Warne, the legendary Australian spinner, was not impressed, calling the situation “disgraceful,” but Gambhir slammed the critics of Ashwin.
“I back Ravichandran Ashwin 100 percent. What he did was well within the rules. He has done nothing wrong. And there are so many people who are jumping into it, they have got nothing to do with it. Probably to increase some social media followers or to have some presence somewhere so that people can talk about it. It makes no sense. R Ashwin is absolutely correct,” Gambhir said
Eoin Morgan
Pathan emphasized that England’s Eoin Morgan benefited from the ball ricocheting off the batter and going for runs in the 2019 World Cup final, which they won after the game was tied. However, after the ball raced to the boundary, Ben Stokes, the batsman at the time, held up his hands sheepishly and later confessed that he wouldn’t have cared if the runs were not granted.
“People use the term spirit of the game for their own convenience. Do you remember the 2019 World Cup? Let’s not get into it. If you have issues with the rule, change the rule. Even in that run-out issue, I would do it differently, but Ashwin was definitely well within the rules. Ashwin should back himself definitely and we all will back him,” said Pathan.
Agarkar said that too much has been made of the incident. “So much has been made out it. Spirit of the game terms are conveniently used but it can’t be a grey area. You can’t have situations where one thing is not allowed and the other thing is allowed. It can’t work that way,” he said.
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