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Former England international Graeme Swan feels the contentious feud between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli is nothing compared to what he witnessed in the hotly contested Ashes series, adding that the sport would be “dull” without such incidents.
Kohli and Gambhir had a verbal altercation during Royal Challengers Bangalore’s away match against Lucknow Super Giants on May 1.
The former Indian skipper was also seen getting into arguments with Afghanistan’s Naveen Haq and Kyle Myers as the match attracted attention for all the wrong reasons.
“Let’s face it, if there was no grappling in sports, it would be boring. Having played the Ashes test series all my life, it just can’t be compared to that,” said Swan, an expert at JioCinema, in a virtual interaction.
LSG coach Kohli and Gambhir faced heavy penalties and were fined 100 percent of their match fee for breaching the IPL’s Code of Conduct.
Naveen was also charged with 50 percent of the match fee.
Swan feels there is nothing wrong with Kohli being too aggressive, and believes him to be a “Kohli” because of his passion for the game.
“You should never try to dilute players so much that they don’t have their hearts on their sleeves.
“One of the reasons why Virat Kohli is ‘Virat Kohli’ is because he is very passionate about cricket. He is in your face when he plays and scares a lot of players.
Some might think he went too far. They are huge characters who grew up and played together. Gautam will never back down to Virat.
“If it leaks off the field and there are things that cause it, it’s wrong. As long as there are handshakes after the match and it doesn’t create a bad image on screen, I’m all for their passion.”
Impact player to save ODI
The introduction of the ‘Impact Player’ rule saw the IPL post a record 200-plus total, and Swann believes it should be implemented at international level, especially in the ODI format, which many believe is dying.
The Impact Player rule, which came into effect for the first time in Indian domestic cricket, allows teams to replace any member of the starting line-up during a match. “I consider it a success and he should get into international cricket, especially in the over-50 format because that needs something to liven up,” Swan said.
“It’s not so close to T20s anymore. I think it works. There shouldn’t be just one player to choose from, it should be like the bench as in football you have five subs and at any given time you can only have one player. I wouldn’t have any problem with that at all,” he said.
MS Dhoni is still going strong and the Englishman believes there is no reason why this season Swansong will be the captain of the World Cup winning side. It is widely believed that the ongoing IPL will be the last time Dhoni will be seen in action.
Every time he goes to bat, he hits sixes. Why this will be his ‘final year’ is beyond me. If he wants to keep playing, he can do whatever he likes.
“In my books, he’s a masterful glove, great with the bat and his captaincy is still the best in the IPL. I don’t think it’s his last year, I think he’s too old to go.” When asked about Kolkata Knight Riders spinner Sunil Narine’s tepid showing this season, Swann said he only had confidence issues and Trinidadians should not be “written off”.
“I think he bowls without confidence. Sometimes you get a little bit of luck when a bad ball gets a wicket, and it feels right again.
“I am not writing him off. I will continue to pick him in my squad. When you have (Varun) Chakravarthy and Suyash (Sharma) bowling well, they can hide him (Naren) a little bit,” Swann added.
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