India cricketers' growing habit of blowing things out of proportion

Ajit Vijaykumar 19:53 19/02/2018
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  • India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin launched into an unexpected Twitter tirade on Monday, admonishing former South African cricketer Herschelle Gibbs as a match-fixer following a seemingly innocuous jibe by Gibbs on Ashwin’s running.

    It started off when Gibbs replied to Ashwin’s tweet on his new pair of running shoes, joking that the Indian spinner should be able to run faster. The India cricketer shot back by saying while he is not as athletically gifted as Gibbs, at least he had “the ethical mind not to fix games which put food on my plate”.

    That reply was pulled down by Ashwin after a severe backlash on social media, labelling it as just a joke. Ashwin was referring to the 2000 Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal in which Gibbs received a six-month ban.

    This is the latest incident of Indian cricketers going on the offensive for no apparent reason. Here we list three other instances when current Indian players got into an unnecessary battle.

    MS DHONI, WORLD T20 2016

  • Virat Kohli great in South Africa but other Indian batsmen deserve credit as well, says Ravi Ashwin

  • After India exited the 2016 World T20 following a loss against the West Indies in Mumbai, the India wicketkeeper captain was asked by an Aussie journalist whether he was keen to play on. Since Dhoni had already retired from Test cricket abruptly and had turned 34 in 2016, it seemed a simple enough question.

    But Dhoni, instead of answering the question or refusing to do so, invited the journalist to sit next to him and asked him if the scribe thought he is fit and should play until the 2019 World Cup. What made the interaction uncomfortable was Dhoni’s comment that he wanted the question to come from an India journalist so that he could ask if he had a “son or a brother who is a wicketkeeper” who could play in his stead. Dhoni was ready for a media war that day.

    VIRAT KOHLI, CENTURION TEST 2018

    One of the most combative instances involving the explosive batsman, Kohli refused to blame an inconsistent selection policy for the defeat in the second Test against South Africa in Centurion. Under Kohli’s captaincy, India have yet to field the same playing XI in Tests and after Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ajinkya Rahane – seemingly straightforward picks – were not selected for the crucial second Test, a question on team selection and the best playing XI saw Kohli lose his cool.

    “If we had won this, was this the best 11? We don’t decide the 11 according to results. You are telling me that you could have played the best 11. You tell me the best 11 and we will play that,” Kohli said.

    For the record, Kumar and Rahane returned to the playing XI in the next Test which India won.

    RAVI ASHWIN, MUMBAI TEST 2016

    During England’s tour of India in 2016, which ended in a 4-0 thrashing, England seamer James Anderson found himself in the middle of a verbal battle with Ashwin. The issue started when Anderson was asked during a presser whether Kohli’s technique had changed in the series, where he ended up scoring nearly 700 runs in five Tests. Anderson said his technique hadn’t been properly tested on docile Indian wickets. Kohli had earlier managed just 134 runs in five Tests in England in 2014 with Anderson his tormentor.

    However, the next day when Anderson came out to bat, Ashwin greeted the Englishman with a few heated words and said he needs to “accept defeat as it is”. Ashwin was given an unofficial warning by umpires for his conduct.

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