Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir was not pleased with India captain Virat Kohli's reaction to the controversial DRS decision on Day 3 of the third Test against South Africa. Proteas skipper Dean Elgar had survived an LBW decision after the hawk-eye showed that the ball was going over the stumps.
Gambhir slammed Kohli and said that his reaction to the decision was really immature. The India captain was seen going near the stump mic and saying, "Focus on your team as well and not just the opposition, trying to catch people all the time."
Even India off-spinner R Ashwin, who had trapped Elgar in front of the stumps, was caught saying, "You should find better ways to win, SuperSport (South African broadcaster)."
The ex-India batter said the technology isn't in someone's hand and they shouldn't have reacted in this manner. "This is really bad. What Kohli did, going near the stump mic and reacting in that manner, that is really immature. This is not what you expect from an international captain, from an Indian captain.
The technology isn't in your hand. Then you have reacted in the same manner when there was a caught-behind appeal on the leg-side, neither did Dean Elgar react in that manner. During that Mayank Agarwal appeal, it looked out from the naked eye, but Elgar did not react in that manner," Gambhir said after the end of the day's play on Star Sports.
The incident happened during the 21st over of South Africa's second innings, when Elgar was given out LBW by the on-field umpire Marais Erasmus and the Proteas captain took a DRS.
Replays showed that the ball hit Elgar just below the knee roll, but hawk-eye showed that it was going over the stumps. He survived the LBW decision and even umpire Erasmus was surprised by the hawk-eye.
"No matter what you say, stuff like he plays with his heart on his sleeve, this reaction was an exaggerated one and you can't be a role model in this manner. No budding cricketers would want to see this kind of a reaction, especially from the Indian captain.
"No matter the result in this Test match, this is not what you expect from a Test captain who has led the team for so long. I hope Rahul Dravid has a word with him, because the type of captain Dravid was, he would have never reacted in this manner," Gambhir further said.
(With Star Sports Inputs)
