Virat Kohli Fires Shots At The English Team For Not Displaying Spirit Of Cricket
Updated - 22 Mar 2021, 06:33 PM
India captain, Virat Kohli takes a dig at the England team invoking the ‘Spirit Of Cricket’ with regards to the dismissals of Suryakumar Yadav and Washington Sundar in the 4th T20I of the recently concluded T20I series where the ‘Soft Signal’ garnered a lot of attention.
Both Yadav and Sundar were given out caught in the deep by the third umpire when he was unable to find any ‘conclusive evidence’ to overturn the on-field umpire’s soft signal of ‘out’. While on replays it seemed that Dawid Malan, the fielder who caught Yadav, have grounded the ball but still gave the impression that he had taken it cleanly promoting the on-field umpire to give his soft signal as in England’s favour.
Virat Kohli opines that the reaction of the fielders when the soft signal is considered is important. By his words, the skipper, too, believes that Malan had grounded the ball – he says that had Indian fielders done such an act on their foreign tours, then critics would have lambasted them with the ‘Spirit of Cricket’.
“One more factor to be considered is how the fielding side responds to a dismissal defines the soft signal. You’ve then got to question spirit of cricket. If things like that happened to Indian team overseas, then you talk about spirit of cricket,” Virat Kohli said in the press confernece on the eve of the ODI series in Pune.
Why there can’t be an ‘I don’t know’ call with the umpires: Virat Kohli
After the 4 T20I, the skipper expressed his surprise at the umpire’s signalling the ‘soft signal’ for catches taken in the deep. He pointed out that even the fielders sometimes aren’t sure about whether they have taken a clean catch or not – Kohli reckons there should be an ‘I don’t know’ call for the on-field umpire as well, and leave everything to the TV umpire.
“If it is a half and half effort and the fielder is in doubt, there is no way the umpire from square leg can see it clearly. The soft signal becomes that important and it becomes tricky. I don’t know why there can’t be an ‘I don’t know’ call with the umpires as well. It is similar to the umpire’s call as well.
“These are decisions that can change the course of the game, especially in these big games. We were on the receiving side today, and tomorrow it could be some other team. You want these ironed out and keep the game really simple and linear. It isn’t ideal in high-pressure games and have a lot of clarity on the field,” the 32-year-old had said last week.
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India vs England 2021 Suryakumar Yadav Virat Kohli
