Definitely not a personal battle, everybody is different: Ashwin on Morgan
Senior Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has sought to end
the controversy surrounding his on-field showdown with England skipper Eoin Morgan over an
extra run during an IPL match, saying it was not a personal battle but a
difference of opinion on how the game should be played.
During last week's IPL match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata
Knight Riders, which is captained by Morgan, Ashwin tried to take a run after a
throw ricocheted off his batting partner Rishabh Pant's body.
Morgan and Ashwin then had an altercation with the England
white-ball skipper calling the Indian a "disgrace" and accusing him
of not adhering to the 'Spirit of Cricket' despite the fact that MCC rules
allow scoring of runs after rebound from a batsman's body.
England had benefitted from such a rebound not so long ago when
they were awarded four runs after a throw from the deep struck Ben Stokes' bat
during the 2019 World Cup final, and the umpire signalled overthrows, leading
to their title triumph.
"Look, I think it's definitely not a personal battle or one
on one battle and I wouldn't deem it like that at all. People who want
attention may be taking it that way, but I am not looking at it that way at
all," Ashwin said after last night's game against Chennai Super Kings.
"...I was not the one who was aware that it had hit Rishabh
(Pant). So I just felt like they had already decided they were going to have a
go, and that is one of the reasons why I said the words that were used were not
in the right direction and not in the right space," he explained.
He was referring to his Twitter posts after that game in which he
asked Morgan and Tim Southee to not use "derogatory" words and
lecture him on 'Spirit of Cricket' by taking a moral high ground.
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