Venkatesh Prasad, former India pacer, has taken a huge dig at the ‘spirit of cricket’ claims by the England and Australian players after the Jonny Bairstow stumping controversy in the ongoing Ashes 2023 series.
England accused Australian players of violating the “spirit of the game”, as Jonny Bairstow was dismissed stumped in the fourth innings of the second Test at Lord’s.
The England keeper-batter had promptly left the crease after dodging a Cameron Green bouncer and at this point, Australia keeper Carey threw the ball at the stumps and made an appeal for Bairstow’s dismissal. The third umpire ruled it out after the decision was sent up to him.
The crowd booed Australian players on the pitch and even in the large Lord’s room. Current and former England players shared their views on this dismissal and called out Australian players for their lack of spirit of the game.
On the other hand, Australians and players from other countries said that Bairstow was dismissed as per the rules of the game and no spirit of the game was violated.
“Good Version Of “Forget Your Past”- Venkatesh Prasad On Old Video Of Jonny Bairstow
But now, a video of Jonny Bairstow cheekily stumping out an opposing batter during a county game in 2014 has gone viral amid other films of England players celebrating dismissals of disputed character where the spirit of cricket may have been called into question.
Samit Patel, a batter for Nottinghamshire, was seen leaving a delivery during a match against Yorkshire in the county match video. When Patel’s foot rose into the air to stump the Nottinghamshire batter, Bairstow, who was wicketkeeping, patiently waited and only then removed the bails.
After the day’s play, the presenter can be seen asking Bairstow: “What a fantastic stumping, an opportunistic piece of work?” To this, Bairstow replies: “It is just one of those things that are within the rules of the game and that is how it is.”
Here is the video:
Well, well, well ?
“It’s within the rules of the game and that’s how it is!” – Bairstow 2014#Bairstow#Ashes23
Thanks for the heads up @YallopDiana ? pic.twitter.com/aNX1KeZIkW
— Andy Lee (@andytomlee) July 4, 2023
To this, former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad took a dig at Bairstow calling it convenient to forget their past. He also said that the hypocrisy of not only England players, but Australians was at another level.
He tweeted: “Haha, that’s a good version of “Forget your past” Both the English and the Aussie players have unreal hypocricy.”
Haha, that’s a good version of “Forget your past”
Both the English and the Aussie players have unreal hypocricy. https://t.co/0N9WdPo6xz
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) July 6, 2023