A showman who hardly needed provocations to get under the skin of the opponents, Shane Warne saw nothing wrong in Sreesanth’s war of words with Andrew Symonds.
Says the bowler’s aggression shows his passion for cricket
MELBOURNE: The growing animosity between India and Australia and its on-field manifestations may have come as a worry for the match officials, but spin great Shane Warne believes the game needs drama like this and it would spice up the summer of cricket.
A showman who hardly needed provocations to get under the skin of the opponents, Warne saw nothing wrong in S Sreesanth’s war of words with Andrew Symonds or Harbhajan Singh’s outburst, goaded by the close-in fielders in the heated second ODI at Kochi.
“I don’t think anything was over the top. So it’s going to add a bit of spice to the series,” Warne was quoted as saying by ‘The Australian’.
“Everyone’s going to be looking for Sreesanth to do his stuff and it shows his passion for the game,” he said. Warne also added that Sreesanth’s aggression underlines his competitive spirit and proves that he has a zest for the game.
In his illustrious international career, Warne never allowed anyone to bully or browbeat him but admitted sledging Sachin Tendulkar often proved counter-productive.
Meanwhile, the Indian team on Thursday sought to distance itself from Sreesanth’s verbel duels with vice-captain Yuvraj Singh saying such histrionics were unnecessary.
Giving a thumb down to Sreesanth’s behaviour in the second ODI that got marred by frayed tempers, Yuvraj said the paceman should learn to control his aggression and concentrate more on his game.
Sreesanth’s gesture towards Andrew Symonds after catching him out off his own bowling was widely criticised though he managed to escape any punishment from the ICC Match Referee.
“Sreesanth needs to show more of cricket and less of talk. It is not a strategy. We have come here to play cricket,” Yuvraj said.
He admitted that his side neither batted nor bowled well in the second match while the Australians outdid them in every department of the game.
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