After losing his cool on the field due to a doubtful decision against him, the otherwise calm Rahul Dravid lambasted Kieron Pollard of the Mumbai Indians after their match at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
The Rajasthan Royals captain called the send-off given by the MI all-rounder to Shane Watson as an ‘act of cowardice’ as the Jaipur side were striggling in their chase of a 166-run target.
Pollard, who while batting apparently was the recepient of some chitchat from Watson & Co. returned the favour when the Australian was batting. Watson wasn’t happy and umpires Asad Rauf and Sudhir Asnani intervened to settle issue and get on with the game.
But Watson holed out to Pollard at long on off Pragyan Ojha, and the West Indian celebrated wildly as Watson headed towards the team dug out.
Dravid couldn’t hide his anger over the incident. “I think saying something on the field is part and parcel of the game; having a chat, a bit of banter while the game is on is fine, but my personal opinion is that you send a batsman off after you get him out is an act of cowardice. The batsman can never respond after you have got him out and you have sent him off,” Dravid said.
The veteran batsman was also unhappy with the way umpires handled things in the middle.
“I guess it was a competitive game. Things can get tough in a Twenty20 game, so these things can happen and I was not surprised. But I think it could have been managed a bit better in terms of the way they did; it could have been handled a lot better, but that is the way things are sometimes. Things can get heated in the middle,” he said.
Earlier, Dravid gave Asnani a long stare after he was given caught behind off Mitchell Johnson.
“At that point of time I was disappointed, but as you cool down you realise that it is the beauty of this game, it happens. Some days you don’t get the rub of the green and other days you do; so that is part and parcel of the game and I have no regrets about it,” he said.
Incidentally Dravid isn’t the only one with an otherwise cool head to express frustration in this IPL. M.S. Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist and Jacques Kallis have already given display to their emotions.
MI skipper Rohit Sharma defended Pollard, saying it was a normal reaction from the Trinidadian.
“The match referee had called us after the game, but Pollard said that is what he always does. That is the kind of celebration he does even when he takes wickets,” he said.