Initiators of cricket rows can’t be less guilty

Asitha Fernando (left) and Yashasvi Jaiswal in a spat. FILE PIC

India's opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal was fined 25 per cent of his match fee for having stopped on his way to the pavilion to ‘deal with' Sri Lanka seam bowler Asitha Fernando and his colleagues who uttered something after the Indian was dismissed in the ongoing second Test in Colombo.

Jaiswal's turnaround resulted in a physical scuffle between him and Fernando. The ICC penalised Fernando similarly. There is no room for physical contact in cricket; it's not a contact sport. While acts like these cannot be defended, generally the ICC must penalise the initiator more in some cases. The match referee has access to footage to determine who triggered the incident. It is human to react although the rules say you must not and Jaiswal's reputation of being impudent is growing.

A lot of controversies in cricket have been caused because of something that was said while a player walked back disappointed with his dismissal. The classic case is Sunil Gavaskar taking partner Chetan Chauhan with him when he (Gavaskar) was adjudged LBW by umpire Rex Whitehead in the Melbourne Test of 1981. Gavaskar was firstly gutted by the dismissal (the ball delivered by Dennis Lillee struck his bat) and was walking off. But a lewd remark from an Australian player caused him to take Chauhan along with him. The heated situation was defused by manager Wing Commander Shahid Durani, who sent Chauhan back to join new batsman Dilip Vengsarkar. India went on to win the Test and squared the series 1-1. Forty-five years later, we still do not know for sure who that abusive Australian was.