Deep Dasgupta, the former India wicketkeeper, was disappointed with the language used while expressing his opinion on the Ravichandran Ashwin-Eoin Morgan debacle. The on-field altercation between the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain and the Delhi Capitals (DC) all-rounder has sparked a debate among the cricketing fraternity, including prominent ex-cricketers.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Eoin Morgan both expressed their thoughts behind the incident after the culmination of the match. Deep Dasgupta felt the entire concept of “spirit of cricket” is very vague, making it a hard line to tread. Ravichandran Ashwin called his Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Rishabh Pant for a run after a throw ricocheted, having hit the latter during an IPL 2021 clash against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Sharjah.
Deep Dasgupta: Disgrace And Ashamed Are Very Harsh Words, And Better Words Should Be Used In Case Of A Disagreement
More than the incident, the events that have unravelled since it took place have particularly concerned Deep Dasgupta. While he does not hold an issue with someone expressing their opinion against something, he firmly believes the right language must be used.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Deep Dasgupta said: “My opinion can be different and I may disagree with Ashwin, and that is fine. But the words that have been used so far like ‘disgrace’ and ‘ashamed,’ these are very harsh words. These are extremely, extremely harsh words. If there is only disagreement, better words could have been used.”
“Just because your thoughts are different and mine are different from yours, does not mean words like these are used. Especially from influential people and role models in cricket. Fewl weird hearing things like these from them.”
Deep Dasgupta: If Spirit Of Cricket Is Adhered To, There Shouldn’t Be An Issue
Deep Dasgupta noted that as long as the spirit of the game is being mended legally, there should not be an issue.
He added: “What I think is that, the rules of the game is a line, and the spirit of the cricket can be drawn anywhere inside the line , depends on you. The line is a barrier, as long as it is being drawn inside of it, there should not be any issue.”
After Ravichandran Ashwin’s dismissal, KKR bowler Tim Southee and skipper Eoin Morgan got involved in a heated argument with the Indian spinner over the extra run taken. While Ravichandran Ashwin ended up with the last laugh by scalping Eoin Morgan for a duck, it was KKR who won the contest by 3 wickets with 10 balls to spare and delayed DC’s qualification for the playoffs.
KKR, however, went on to win the game by 3 wickets with 10 balls to spare. DC’s Rishabh Pant and Steve Smith scored 39 each, while KKR’s Sunil Narine scored a cameo (21 runs off 10 balls) besides taking 2 scalps. Nitish Rana top-scored for KKR with unbeaten 36 runs.
In the IPL 2019, Ravichandran Ashwin had come under criticism after running out Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler before delivering the ball, although the dismissal is perfectly legal as per the laws.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 130/7 (Nitish Rana 36*, Shubman Gill 30; Avesh Khan 3/13) beat Delhi Capitals 127/9 (Rishabh Pant 39, Steve Smith 39; Sunil Narine 2/18) by 3 wickets.