Former Australia skipper and Mumbai Indian’ head coach, Ricky Ponting, who never backed off from on-field heckling during his playing days, on Sunday said verbal duels are part of the game but players shouldn’t cross the line.
“I believe its part of the game. But players do have to understand where the line is. They should never cross the line. That’s all we can say to our players, that’s all we are worried about,” Ricky Ponting said.
There have been several instances in the Indian Premier League(IPL) where players have been involved in an on-field spat. Mumbai Indians’ Kieron Pollard was involved in a very ugly on-field spat with Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) fast bowler Mitchell Starc. Pollard attempted to throw bat at Starc and all this didn’t look good at all.
“It doesn’t matter what has happened in World Cup or before that. We should make sure we handle our players the best way we can and let our players understand the way we want to play our game and the way we want them to play the game. That’s about the same,” Ponting said.
Mumbai Indians’ skipper Rohit Sharma, who is also a very aggressive cricketer, seconded Ricky Ponting’s thought and said players should know where to draw the line.
