Former India opener Gautam Gambhir was disappointed by the conduct of contemporary national Test skipper Virat Kohli as he unleashed his anger over South African broadcaster SuperSport through the stump-mic on January 13.
The incident is related to an LBW review that South African batter Dean Elgar took after being given out on the field against off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Chasing 212 in the series-deciding Test in Cape Town, Proteas reached 60 for one when a delivery from Ashwin hit Elgar below the knee roll in line with the stumps.
While umpire Marais Erasmus had no hesitation raising his finger, Elgar decided to verify the call through DRS. Convinced that they have had their man, Ashwin, Kohli and the rest of Indian fielders started celebrating. But they were in for a massive shock as the projected path on DRS replay showed the ball to be sailing over the stumps.
Angst and irritated over it, Kohli went after SuperSport through the stump-mic. Going near the set of stumps, he said,
“Focus on your team while they shine the ball. Not just the opposition. Trying to catch people all the time.”
It was a reference to the 2018 Cape Town when the ball-tampering incident had come to light.
But Kohli’s reaction and unabashed show of anger didn’t go down well with Gambhir, who criticised the skipper for his conduct during a conversation with Indian broadcaster Star Sports.
“This is really bad. What Kohli did, going near the stump mic and reacting in that manner, that is really immature. This is not what you expect from an international captain, from an Indian captain. Then technology isn’t in your hand,”
Gambhir said.
The cricketer-turned-commentator also questioned would Kohli have reacted the same way when Indian opener Mayank Agarwal was reprieved during the first Test in Centurion?
Apart from Kohli, Ashwin and fellow Indian fielder KL Rahul also directed their anger towards SuperSport. Rahul accused to be a case of “the whole country against 11 guys”, while Ashwin directly addressed the broadcaster.
Worth noting here is an important detail that the facts and data presented on DRS replays are not controlled by the broadcasters, who only play the relaid screen handed over to them by Hawkeye, an independent authoriser of the ball-tracking technology.
