R Ashwin’s IPL franchise Delhi Capitals (DC) has come in defense of their star off-spinner after legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne slammed him as disgraceful during his tiff with KKR captain Eoin Morgan.

Ashwin had a verbal exchange with Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Eoin Morgan and Tim Southee after he grabbed an extra run following a throw that ricocheted off his partner Rishabh Pant's arm. As per unwritten rules of the game, a batsman avoids a run when the ball from a fielder hits him and deviates away because it is seen as against the spirit of cricket.

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As a result, Shane Warne, who led the Rajasthan Royals to the IPL 2008 victory, tweeted,” The world shouldn't be divided on this topic and Ashwin. It's pretty simple -- it's disgraceful and should never happen. Why does Ashwin have to be that guy again? I think (Morgan) had every right to nail him!"

But as a reply to this, Delhi Capitals’ owner Parth Jindal reminded everyone of what happened in the final of the 2019 World Cup between England and New Zealand when England were awarded four runs after Martin Guptill's throw for New Zealand deflected off Ben Stokes' bat to the boundary.

“So when the ball ricochets off Ben Stokes for 4 additional runs which single handedly allows England to win the 50 over World Cup there are no issues?" Jindal tweeted, calling the criticism of Ashwin "hypocrisy at its best".

Pant, the Delhi captain, said the run was in the "spirit of the game" and described the incident as "part and parcel" of cricket after Tuesday's match in the UAE. On the other hand, KKR keeper Dinesh Karthik said, "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.”

Ashwin got a kind of revenge as he dismissed Eoin Morgan for a duck in KKR’s chase.

(AFP inputs)