WATCH: Ashwin in heated face-off with Southee & Morgan; DK rushes to stop Ash
Ravichandran Ashwin and Tim Southee exchanged some heated words during the Indian Premier League group stage game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals. This happened in the final over of the first innings when Tim Southee dismissed the Indian spinner, and had expressed how he felt about a run he took in the over prior.
In Venkatesh Iyer’s final over (19th over of the innings), Rishabh Pant scampered through for a sneaky second run despite the throw hitting him and deflecting the ball away inadvertently. While Pant was unaware of the ball coming his way, Ashwin called for the run to be completed and some of the KKR players seemed unhappy with the run being completed.
While that managed to flare some tempers, Kiwi medium-pacer prepared himself to bowl the final over. Ashwin had hit it to the square-leg fielder and was dismissed off the first ball. On his way back to the pavilion, Southee was spotted saying something to Ashwin, which clearly antagonized the outgoing batter.
Also Read: IPL 2021 – Rishabh Pant nearly takes out DK’s head with reverse bat swipe; laughs it off later
Ashwin did not hold back and said a few things himself. Before things went out of control, Dinesh Karthik stepped in to avoid further discussions. Ravichandran Ashwin walked back to the pavilion as Delhi Capitals finished with 127 runs on the board.
We often see batters denying runs in situations when the ball inadvertently strikes their body and is obstructing the field, but they are under no legal pressure to do so. This is where Cricket’s perpetual debate between the spirit of cricket and existing laws stirs up once again.
Here’s a look at that tussle between Southee and Ashwin.
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(@Pran33Th__18) September 28, 2021
Why was Ashwin fired up?
Dinesh Karthik explained what got Tim Southee and Eoin Morgan riled up after the game. “Rahul Tripathi threw the ball, it hit Rishabh Pant, and then ricocheted. And Ashwin called for it and they started to run. I don’t think Morgan appreciates that. I think he’s somebody who, when the ball hits the batsman or the bat, he expects them not to run in the spirit of cricket. Again, it’s a very grey area, it’s a very interesting topic. I have my own opinion on it but at the moment I’ll just say I’m happy I played peacemaker and things have come to a good standstill right now.”
“I think that was in the spirit of the game, nothing much, because at the end of the day Ash and Morgan are trying to win the game for their sides and there can be some miscommunication in between.”