Mohali: With ICC sanctions firmly in place, cricket has been losing character due to fear of penalty, but there are still a few who can engage the crowd with their on-field skirmishes.
India captain Virat Kohli and England’s premier all-rounder Ben Stokes are having a go at each other for the past three days — at times openly like on the first day and at times subtly like it has happened in the next two days.
For many it would be a case of deja vu — back to a similar on-field intense rivalry that an England all-rounder and an India captain showed. That was Sourav Ganguly as India captain, whose epic shirt-waving at Lord’s balcony after 2002 Natwest final will be etched in cricket lovers’ memory forever. The trigger then was Flintoff waving his jersey after winning an ODI for England at the Wankhede, a few months prior to the Natwest final.
The third Test in Mohali is also witnessing some on-field fireworks between Stokes and Kohli.
On the first day, after Stokes was dismissed, he had a verbal spat with Kohli while returning to the pavilion — an act that earned him the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) reprimand.
On the second day, it was Stokes’ turn to get a well-set Kohli out and then to comically gesture ‘sealed lips’ — to remind people that he had been sanctioned.
On the third day, as soon as Stokes was dismissed by Jayant Yadav, Kohli made an ‘I am quiet’ gesture which said it all. When Jonny Bairstow was asked about it, his answer suggested that they seemed to have now accepted that Kohli is a package deal.
“It’s up to him (Kohli), isn’t it. He’s obviously quite a vocal character. But that’s Virat. He gets a bit wound up. We’ll leave him to it. If he wants to do that, let him do that. And we’ll go about our business as we have over a period of time.
“But yes. If he wants to do that and let the crowd do that, then let him,” Bairstow added.
Bairstow also dismissed the fact that England batsmen were trying some sledging tactics when spinners were bowling. “No sledging. I don't think there’s anything in that, to be honest with you. We were just standing straight... You can stand anywhere you want. I don’t think there’s a set thing to standing there at the moment. It is not a set play to try to unsettle anyone or anything like that. It’s just that we fancy standing a bit straight.
“You’ve got Jadeja at one end, who gets through his overs in about four seconds (in jest) and you have guys at the other end with a slightly longer run-up. So to try and settle into a rhythm as a batter can be a little tricky when you’ve got two spinners at different ends going at four and seven seconds an over!” Bairstow, however, did agree that they have been outplayed on Monday.
“I think they have won today. I think up until this morning, it was evenly poised, to be honest with you. If this morning, we’d gone bang bang for two wickets, it would have been a great start to the day.
“But unfortunately that was not the case. They have played well this morning, to give them credit. So yeah, they played nicely today and put us in a tough position.”
(PTI)
