Twitter trolls Ricky Ponting for teaching Ravi Ashwin about the spirit of the game

On Wednesday, the IPL franchise Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting had made it clear that he will be having a hard conversation with the Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin regarding the ‘mankading’ incident that he pulled against Jos Buttler in the previous edition of the Indian Premier League. Ponting had backed his stance saying that this is against the spirit of the gentleman’s game.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to kick-start the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League from September 19, with the final to take place on November 10 in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Ahead of the 2020 edition, Ashwin was traded to Delhi Capitals.

Last year while captaining Kings XI Punjab, Ashwin had dismissed the Rajasthan Royals batsman Jos Buttler by mankading as he was backing up on the non-striker’s end. This has led to a huge controversy. While some had supported the spinner saying that this is within the rules of the sport, many had criticized him for not maintaining the spirit of the game.

Twitterati trolls Ricky Ponting for preaching about ‘spirit of the game’

The former Australian captain had thrashed Ashwin saying that this kind of thing would not be tolerated in Delhi Capitals as this is not the way they play their cricket. He had added that he will be having a hard conversation with the Indian Stalwart and he hopes that Ashwin takes it to the chin.

Speaking on The Grade Cricketer Podcast, Ponting had said, “So, that’s going to be a conversation and that’s going to be a hard conversation I will have to have with him, but I’m pretty sure he’ll take it on the chin. I think, even him, looking back now, probably he’d say it was within the rules and he’s right to do it, but this is not within the spirit of the game, not in the way I want, at least with the Delhi Capitals anyway.”

However, these statements by the former Australian captain didn’t go well with many cricket fans across the globe. As a result, Ponting was subjected to a lot of hate and criticism on Twitter. People called him a hypocrite for talking about the spirit of the game. Many Twitter users trolled Ponting for speaking about sportsmanship and made him remind the instances where he himself had tried to influence the umpires for giving the decision in his team’s favour.

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