Virat Kohli and the art of keeping cool in IPL
the captains and match officials met in a city hotel ahead of the opening game between RCB and holders Sunrisers Hyderabad for a briefing on the tournament’s rules and regulations. It’s a routine before every IPL but assumes significance due to the recent incidents.
Rajeev Shukla, the IPL chairman, told HT before the meeting, “We have to ensure the game is played in the right spirit and the emphasis of the meeting will be on that. The referees and umpires will spell out the dos and donts.”
There has been a lot of criticism by former players of sledging. Bishan Singh Bedi even tweeted that sledging stood out as a sore thumb in an otherwise good India-Australia series, but players like Gambhir have no issues with it.
Gambhir told HT, “Sledging is absolutely fine with me if it happens on the field. But there is no point in getting personal about individuals. Some people do well only when they get aggressive, it gets the best out of them. But you shouldn’t take that off the field. Just keep it there.”
An official privy to Tuesday’s meeting said the captains have been told to maintain decency and play in the right spirit.
Match referees usually get access to all the conversation happening on the pitch, which is captured by the stump mike. Much of this is often blocked by broadcasters from the viewers.
However, there is some leeway given in this format, particularly in the IPL, as the intensity sometimes boils over. The referees and umpires do take that into account.
A senior IPL match official told HT on Tuesday, “Look, players are under severe pressure. Twenty20 is not an easy game, especially the IPL. It looks easy from the outside, but it is very intense. As it is there is so much heat and then the pressure from the crowd is bound to affect you. It is so charged up. So, quite often the players protest sanctions and request that they should be given some respite.” In a KKR-RCB match, the rival skippers got into a clash after Virat Kohli got out. Gambhir walked upto Kohli after the latter’s dismissal in the 10th over and almost got into a fight. It was only after Rajat Bhatia intervened things were sorted. Some KKR players later accuses that Gambhir was provoked by Kohli into it. RCB’s Starc bowled a bouncer at MI’s Pollard and walked upto him and exchanged a few words. As Starc ran in for the next delivery, Pollard pulled away. Starc didn’t stop and completed his action and delivered the ball. Pollard lost his cool and threw his bat in the bowler’s direction. It was probably the first major incident where physical contact was involved. Although there is no official footage, it is believed that KXIP’s Sreesanth had rubbed MI’s Harbhajan the wrong way after his team had beaten Bhajji’s. Bhajji in return slapped Sreesanth. Apparently, the West Indian irked the Aussie by singing some tunes as the latter had come in to bat. He then mocked at the RR batsman. The two got involved in a war of words before umpires intervened. Soon, Watson was dismissed and it triggered wild celebrations. Later, when Watson was sitting in the dugout just behind Pollard’s place on the field, the altercation began again. This wasn’t ugly but caught attention because of legends involved. After Ganguly was caught by Graeme Smith, the KKR skipper stood his ground demanding the umpire call for a replay. Warne was unhappy. He believed that Ganguly had no authority to call for a review. However, Ganguly departed and RR gave him a send-off. Warne later criticised Ganguly’s act, terming it against the spirit of the game.