Dubai, Oct 5: Senior Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has sought to end the controversy surrounding his on-field showdown with England skipper Eoin Morgan over an extra run during an IPL match, saying it was not a personal battle but a difference of opinion on how the game should be played.
During last week’s IPL match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders, which is captained by Morgan, Ashwin tried to take a run after a throw ricocheted off his batting partner Rishabh Pant’s body. Morgan and Ashwin then had an altercation with the England white-ball skipper calling the Indian a “disgrace” and accusing him of not adhering to the ‘Spirit of Cricket.’
“Look, I think it’s definitely not a personal battle or one on one battle and I wouldn’t deem it like that at all. People who want attention may be taking it that way, but I am not looking at it that way at all,” Ashwin said.
“I think we need to understand that culturally everybody is different right, the way people are taught to play cricket in England and in India, the way one thinks is completely different,” Ashwin said. “I wouldn’t say that there is anybody that is wrong here. It is just that the way the game was played in 1940s, cannot be the same way that you want somebody else to apply it (now),” he said. (PTI)
