Kotak defended Jaiswal's actions as a purely emotional, situational response.
India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak brushed off the confrontation between opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sri Lanka pacer Asitha Fernando on Day 1 of the Colombo Test, attributing it strictly to the "heat of the moment"
The fiery altercation unfolded during the morning session’s play at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo on Sunday (August 23).
Fernando cleaned up Jaiswal for 45 runs off 53 balls right after the southpaw had cracked three boundaries in the same over.
Following the breakthrough, Fernando gave Jaiswal an aggressive send-off, leading to a tense face-off between the bowler and the departing batter. The two got aggressively close, before several Sri Lankan players and the umpires intervened to defuse the situation.
Addressing the media after day’s play, Kotak defended Jaiswal's actions as a purely emotional, situational response, but noted that the left-hander "should not have gone so close" to the bowler in retaliation.
"I think the bowler commented something and it happened in the heat of moment. Obviously Yashasvi shouldn’t have gone so close to him but it happened in the heat of the moment," Kotak told reporters.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka's fast bowling coach Ryan van Niekerk called it hard Test cricket and an "overflow of emotions" resulting from asking his bowling unit to aggressively challenge the Indian batters.
"Look it is hard Test cricket, isn't it? When you're coming up against a team like India, you can't sit on the back foot and just bowl at them. I think from our side, it's bringing the challenge all the time, trying to make sure we can create something," van Niekerk said in the post-day presser.
"And so, from my point of view, I've really asked the bowlers to stand up and create something. The verbals are probably an overflow of emotion. I'll leave that to the match referee to deal with," he added.
Despite the coaches playing it down, the clash is being reviewed. ICC Match Referee Andy Pycroft will evaluate video footage for inappropriate physical contact or offensive send-offs, which could trigger demerit points or official sanctions under the ICC Code of Conduct.
Coming to the match, Devdutt Padikkal starred with yet another Test century on Sri Lankan soil as India capped off Day 1 with a score of 300/5 in Colombo. Skipper Shubman Gill chipped in with a fifty (50), while Ravindra Jadeja contributed 43.
For the hosts, Asitha Fernando was the pick of the bowlers, returning with figures of 3 for 46.