Legendary Australia cricketer Shane Warne has slammed Delhi Capitals (DC) spinner Ravichandra Ashwin for his antics, which resulted in a heated exchange between him and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Eoin Morgan during an IPL match in Sharjah on Tuesday (September 28).
Morgan was not pleased with Ashwin as he and batting partner Rishabh Pant picked a second run off the last delivery of the 19th over when the ball thrown by the fielder ricocheted of the DC captain’s arm.
In the last over of DC’s innings, Ashwin by dismissed by Tim Southee for 9 and it was then the KKR pacer and Morgan gave the off-spinner a fierce send-off, leading to an on-field altercation between them.
Taking to Twitter, Warne weighed in on the incident and termed Ashwin’s act as “disgraceful”.
“The world shouldn’t be divided on this topic and Ashwin. It’s pretty simple - it’s disgraceful & should never happen. Why does Ashwin have to be that guy again ? I think @Eoin16 had every right to nail him !!!!,” Warne tweeted.
After the game, KKR wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik also spilled the beans on what exactly transpired that led to the altercation between Morgan and Ashwin.
"I know that Rahul Tripathi threw the ball and it hit Rishabh Pant and then it ricocheted of that and Ashwin started to run. I do not think Morgan appreciates that, he is someone when the ball hits the batter, he expects them not to run because of the spirit of cricket. It is a very grey area, a very interesting topic. I have my own opinion on it but I can just say I am happy to play peacemaker and thing has come to a good standstill right now," said Karthik during a virtual post-match press conference.
Coming to the match, Knight Riders defeated the Capitals by three wickets in a low-scoring affair.
Asked to bat first, DC posted a paltry 127/9 in their allotted 20 overs, which KKR chased down with 10 balls to spare. Nitish Rana was the star with the bat, staying unbeaten on 36 off 27 balls to take the team over the line.
