Delhi Capitals off-spinner didn’t take the aftermath of the confrontation with Kolkata Knight Riders skipper lightly and gave a strong response to the opposition captain’s remarks made against him over a deflected throw and attempt to run.
The matter is related to Tuesday’s Premier League game in Sharjah where Eoin Morgan and Ravichandran Ashwin indulged in a heated exchange upon the latter’s dismissal near the close of the DC innings in the first half. That altercation was on show at the start of the 20th over but was triggered out of an incident that took place on the last ball of the 19th over.
Kolkata wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik, who played the “peacemaker” between Morgan and Ashwin, had revealed that his team’s skipper took offence to the fact that the DC lower-order batter had gone for an extra run for an overthrow, even though the throw from fielder Rahul Tripathi had deflected of Ashwin’s batting partner Rishabh Pant.
Not just Morgan, even pacer Tim Southee had a go at Ashwin for that once he was dismissed, before the off-spinner also responded in equal measure. Thankfully, Karthik intervened in time and restored calm.
However, the matter didn’t settle there, as Ashwin on Thursday came out with his side of the story via series of tweets. He stated he was already through with his run by the time he got to know that the ball had deflected off Pant. But even if he knew, he would’ve gone for the run, as it is allowed as per the laws of the game.
Ashwin also said he wasn’t looking to “fight” Morgan and Southee but only “stood for myself.” The cricketer added that Morgan and Southee may have their own rules and beliefs in their own “world of cricket” but nothing gives them the right to take a “moral high ground” for others’ actions and “use words that are derogatory.”
Ashwin then made a larger point regarding many interpretations of the unwritten and conveniently used ‘Spirit of Cricket’, which was used against him when he played by the laws and ran out Jos Buttler at the non-striker’s end in IPL 2019.
He added that no one should “confuse” the players by telling them that they will be judged as a good person or a bad person depending on whether you refused to run an overthrow or warned the non-striker in case he wandered out of the crease with a clear intention to steal a few important inches that can make a massive difference.
Ashwin’s statement may have also been triggered out of a comment made by Shane Warne, who said it was “disgraceful” on his part to have taken the run like he did. Warne, it must be noted, was also one of those against Ashwin’s act of running out Buttler at the other end.
But, as was the case with the non-striker’s run-out, there is no law in the ICC adopted rules and IPL playing conditions that bars a player from running for overthrows if the ball has rebounded off a player unintentionally on the player’s part – in this case, Pant.
It is not uncommon for batters to deny taking runs for overthrows in such instances but Ashwin was well within his rights to go for the extra run as he did.
