India head coach Gautam Gambhir defended Arshdeep Singh’s actions against Daryl Mitchell in the final of the T20 World Cup, saying there was nothing wrong with the bowler throwing the ball back at the batter. In the 11th over, with New Zealand having reached 103/5, Mitchell defended the ball, but Arshdeep picked it up and hurled it back – the only problem was that the ball struck Mitchell instead of the stumps.
A furious Mitchell charged at the batter, requiring intervention from the umpire and India captain Suryakumar Yadav. Surprisingly, at that moment, Arshdeep had no remorse and walked back to his run-up without even looking at the batter. Of course, after the over, Arshdeep shook hands and even apologised to Mitchell after India won the T20 World Cup, but Gambhir would have been totally fine even without it.
“That is ok. You are representing your country. You are bound to show aggression. If you throw back, what is wrong with that? No bowler likes getting hit for two sixes. And that is the kind of response I want to see from my players. There is nothing wrong. Even if he hadn’t said sorry, I was absolutely fine with it. He doesn’t need to say sorry,” Gambhir told ANI on their podcast.
“Yes, it’s good on him that he apologised, but on the cricket field, there are no friends or enemies. Your job is to represent your country, win for your country. These things used to happen earlier, too. But in the era of social media, things escalate, for which, I think, there’s no need.”
Arshdeep was later penalised for breaching the code of conduct, with the ICC fining him 15 per cent of his match fee.
Gambhir’s definition of aggression
Gambhir has always been the one to wear his heart on his sleeve. During his playing career, the former India opener had plenty of run-ins with opposition players, not once backing down from his stance – be it the heated spat with Shahid Afridi during an ODI series between India and Pakistan from 2007, the near physical confrontation with Kamran Akmal at the 2008 Asia Cup or the shoulder barge episode against Australia’s Shane Watson in the 2010 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
And even today, Gambhir follows the same no-nonsense approach as India’s coach. He has always backed his players to the hilt, even if it tends to get him in trouble. Look no further than his bust-up with Virat Kohli during the 2023 IPL, when he had a go at the RCB star while defending his Lucknow Super Giants player Naveen-ul-Haq.
