IPL 2021: Ashwin on clash with Morgan; Not personal battle, people who want attention taking it that way

Delhi Capitals spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has said that it was totally uncalled for Eoin Morgan and Tim Southee to have given him a send-off during the side's Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on September 28.

Ashwin's comments on the altercation with Morgan/Southee and "spirit of cricket" came after Delhi Capitals' three-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Monday at the Dubai International Stadium.

"Look, I think it is definitely not a personal battle or one-on-one battle. Personally, I would not deem it like that. People who want attention may be taking it that way, but I am not looking it that way at all. The incident that happened the other day was, I got really charged up because that was entirely untoward by both Tim Southee and Eoin Morgan to give the batter a sendoff who just got out," said Ashwin while replying to an ANI query during a virtual post-match press conference.

"The worst situation was that I was not aware that the ball had hit Rishabh so I just felt like that they already decided to have a go at me. That is one of the reasons I said that the words which were used were not in the right direction and not in the right space. Beyond that, we need to understand that culturally people are different, the way people are brought up to play cricket in England and India, the way one thinks is completely different," he added.

Further talking about the spirit of cricket, Ashwin said: "I would not say anyone is wrong here, it is just that the sort of way the game was played in the 1940s cannot be the way that you want somebody else to apply it. My two cents to this are that you want to play the game in the way you want to, but do not expect that if it is not within the laws of the game and have a go at them for unnecessary reasons."

Earlier, Ashwin had also cleared the air on what exactly happened between him and Morgan and he also gave his take on the much-debated 'spirit of cricket'. Ashwin and Morgan were involved in a heated exchange after the former was dismissed by Tim Southee in the last over of the DC innings at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

DC skipper Rishabh Pant and Ashwin had picked a second run off the last ball of the 19th over and that seemed to have irked the KKR outfit as some consider it to be against the guidelines of Fair Play to take a run when the ball thrown by the fielder ricochets off the batter.

"I turned to run the moment I saw the fielder throw and dint know the ball had hit Rishabh. Will I run if I see it!? Of course, I will and I am allowed to. Am I a disgrace like Morgan said I was? Of course NOT," Ashwin had tweeted.

Shimron Hetmyer played an unbeaten knock of 28 runs off just 18 balls to help Delhi Capitals defeat CSK by three wickets with two balls to spare. With this win, Rishabh Pant-led outfit moved to the top of the points table with 20 points from 13 games.

(ANI)

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