Mumbai Indians all-rounder James Neesham has taken Kolkata Knight Riders captain Eoin Morgan's side in the overthrow altercation with Delhi Capitals off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
He also had his say on runs coming off deflection.
The incident happened after Ashwin was dismissed by Kolkata pacer Tim Southee in the final over of Delhi's innings. Morgan had said something to Ashwin, who responded quickly. It took keeper Dinesh Karthik and other players to step in and separate the duo.
The root cause of the verbal volley has been Ashwin grabbing an extra run following a throw that ricocheted off his partner and Delhi captain Rishabh Pant's arm on the final ball of the 19th over in Delhi's innings at Sharjah on Tuesday.
Quoting a tweet of Ashwin's thread of his side of story, Neesham earlier wrote, "Getting a bit boring now."
Responding to whose side he took, Ashwin's or Morgan's, Neesham wrote, "Morgan obviously."
Asked about why no one from New Zealand expressed outrage at ball deflecting from Ben Stokes bat in the 2019 Cricket World Cup final, Neesham commented, "Because they're runs if the ball crosses the boundary. But the etiquette of the game is that you don't run if you've caused the deflection. It's just one of that unspoken spirit of the game things."
Ashwin's Clarification
Earlier, in a series of tweets, Delhi Capitals off-spinner R Ashwin denied any knowledge that the ball had deflected off Pant's body as he ran for overthrow, which drew a sharp reaction from Kolkata Knight Riders players with KKR skipper Eoin Morgan terming Ashwin as a "disgrace".
In his tweets on Thursday, Ashwin narrated the incident and then gave his opinion on the spirit of the game issue that has been raised by many in this incident.
"1. I turned to run the moment I saw the fielder throw and dint know the ball had hit Rishabh. 2. Will I run if I see it!? Of course, I will and I am allowed to. 3. Am I a disgrace like Morgan said I was? Of course NOT," said Ashwin in his tweets.
He also said that he did not fight with Southee and Morgan but stood up for himself.
"4. Did I fight? No, I stood up for myself and that's what my teachers and parents taught me to do and pls teach your children to stand up for themselves. In Morgan & Southee's world of cricket, they can choose and stick to what they believe is right or wrong but do not have the right to take a moral high ground and use words that are derogatory," he tweeted.
(With inputs from IANS)
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