MUMBAI, India, CMC- Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid has blasted Mumbai Indians all-rounder Kieron Pollard for the way he celebrated to send off Royals batsman Shane Watson in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Wednesday.
Watson was caught by Pollard and the West Indian gave the batsman a send-off with his hand gesture after celebrating the dismissal.
“One of the things that I find when you send off batsman after you have got him out is that it is an act of cowardice. That is my personal opinion,” said the former India captain in the post-match media conference Wednesday night.
“Batsman can never respond after you have got him out and you send him off”.
Pollard is reported to have made a remark to Watson when he came out to bat, triggering a response from the Australian all-rounder and leading to a verbal spat.
On-field umpires had to intervene and separate the two players before the incident got ugly.
“Saying something on the field is part and parcel of the game,” Dravid said in a strong reaction to the incident at the Wankhede Stadium.
“Having a chat, a bit of banter while the game is on is fine but my personal opinion is that when you send a batsman off after you have got him out is an act of cowardice”.
The episode also invited the ire of the match referee who hauled up the home team skipper Rohit Sharma and Pollard in a hearing after the game.
Sharma, meantime has defended Pollard saying there was nothing personal in the way the Trinidadian celebrated Watson’s dismissal.
“We were just at the match referee’s hearing (before attending the presser) and what Pollard said was that is what he always does. That is the kind of celebration he does even when he takes wickets. You can go and watch the video of his celebration. I don’t think he was personally pointing to anyone. It was his personal celebration,” he said.
“All these things happen. It is part of the game. I don’t think we should take it too seriously. All these things keep happening, we shouldn’t be talking about this I feel”.
Sharma has also accused Watson of starting the fight when Pollard was at the crease by making comments at the big-built West Indian all-rounder.
“Not me but certainly Pollard got something from Watson. So these things keep happening, so there isn’t too much to look into,” Sharma said.
