IPL 2021: Ravichandran Ashwin says ‘not a personal battle’ against Eoin Morgan

Apart from Eoin Morgan, even former Australia leg-spinner, Shane Warne felt it was an unnecessary single which Ravichandran Ashwin ran of a rebound.

Delhi Capitals off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bowls against Chennai Super Kings in their IPL 2021 match in Dubai. (Photo: BCCI/IPL)

Delhi Capitals off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin opened up on what transpired between him and Kolkata Knight Riders’ skipper Eoin Morgan and paceman Tim Southee in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 match last week. Ashwin revealed that he had got charged up after an ‘untoward’ send-off by Morgan and Southee.

Following that an incident occurred during the DC innings when skipper Rishabh Pant and the off-spinner ran a run after a rebound from the former’s body. Unimpressed by this, Morgan had an altercation with Ashwin calling him a disgrace and accusing him of not following the ‘spirit of cricket’.

Apart from Morgan, even former Australia leg-spinner, Shane Warne felt it was an unnecessary single which Ashwin ran of a rebound. The off-spinner finally opened up about the matter after his side’s win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Dubai on Monday (October 4).

“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 a batter sendoff who just got out,” said Ashwin during the virtual post-match press conference.

Ashwin further added that he didn’t know the ball had hit Pant’s arm. He just felt there was an extra run on offer.

“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.