Jaiswal-Fernando heated altercation headlined the first day's pay in Colombo Test.
India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal has become the centre of attention following his heated altercation with Sri Lanka pacer Asitha Fernando on Day 1 of the ongoing second Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo.
During the 17th over of India's first innings, Jaiswal hit Fernando for three boundaries but was clean-bowled on the final delivery for 45. After being dismissed, Jaiswal received a fiery send-off, prompting him to walk back towards the bowler where their helmet and forehead briefly clashed before teammates intervened to defuse the situation.
The ICC heavily penalised both players for breaching Article 2.12 of the Code of Conduct, which strictly prohibits inappropriate physical contact. Both Jaiswal and Fernando were fined 25% of their match fees and handed one demerit point each.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, former India opener Wasim Jaffer labeled the confrontation as "totally unacceptable". He noted that Jaiswal is facing pressure due to a recent dip in Test form and a lack of consistent opportunities in limited-overs formats, which may have caused on-field frustration to creep into his game.
"This is totally unacceptable. This sort of behavior should never happen. I've said it before - Jaiswal's performance hasn't been what we expect from him. We expect big scores from him, and maybe there's some frustration creeping in. But this is the format he's playing. He's not playing consistently in ODIs or T20Is, so whenever he gets a chance in Tests, he needs to score big runs," Jaffer said.
"If he doesn't score runs and lets opportunities slip, he's creating trouble for himself. That's the first thing - you shouldn't react like that," he added.
Jaffer stated that while the exact reason behind Jaiswal's outburst remains unclear, such behaviour from a professional sportsperson sets a bad precedent.
"Unless the bowler said something really inappropriate, which we don't know about from here, reacting like that and being physical is not acceptable. This has happened a couple of times with him now. This is not good sportsmanship. Regardless of who the player is, this is not acceptable. He needs to understand that a lot of people look up to him and see him as a role model," he remarked.