Ranji Trophy: Hot-headed Gambhir involved in verbal spat with Mumbai player

Cuttak, Feb 20: Gautam Gambhir's hot-headed nature has seen him get into altercations with Shahid Afridi, Shane Watson and Virat Kohli on the field. On the fourth day's play of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal clash between Delhi and Mumbai at the DRIEMS College Ground in Tangi on Thursday (February 19), Shardul Thakur joined that list.

Set a target of 441 in just over five sessions, Delhi started positively as Gambhir and Unmukt Chand, the opening pair, strategically aimed at breaking Thakur's rhythm. They knew if they could do that to the opponent's spearhead, half the battle would be won, and using his pace, the openers collected five boundaries in the 13th and 15th over and got Thakur removed from the attack.

Though Chand and Shivam Sharma fell in one Wilkin Mota over, Gambhir, now with Rajat Bhatia for company, continued the ploy against Thakur when he was brought back for another spell.

When play resumed after a break of 110 minutes because of a hailstorm, the duo kept the calculated onslaught on, as Thakur needled Gambhir verbally.

It is against this background that the 33rd over of Delhi's second innings started from the pavilion end.

Even though the batsmen were collecting some easy boundaries against him, Thakur, high on adrenalin that five five-wicket hauls in a season provide, did not budge. Two good balls later from over the wicket, he pitched one just outside the offstump and Gambhir played down the wrong line to be adjudged lbw.

Unhappy with the umpire's call, as Gambhir was walking back towards the dressing room, Thakur, on his way to his teammates in the slip cordon, looked towards Delhi's captain from across the pitch and passed a few remarks. It clearly did not go down well with Gambhir.

He turned around and walked towards the congregation of Mumbai players looking for Thakur with a semi-raised bat. Just when it looked like Gambhir had allowed the incident pass by, he once again approached Thakur, this time a bit more hurriedly. A Nanda Kishore and K Srinath, the two on-field umpires, and Suryakumar Yadav, Gambhir's Kolkata Knight Riders teammate who himself had a spat with Thakur earlier in the season, stepped in in timely fashion to diffuse the fire and avoid any ugly scenes on the cricket field.

Play ended 8.3 overs later with Delhi reduced to 110 for 4 and facing the prospect of batting out a potential 98 overs for a draw or scoring the 331 runs needed for a win, but the curiosity around the event hadn't yet died out. Expectedly, none of the teams were letting anything slip through when asked about the event.

Siddhesh Lad, who had made 55 and played his part in helping Mumbai reach 450 in their second innings earlier in the morning, was not unruffled by the question and was about to share his take on the matter when a stern "no" from the team's manager cut him short. Then, Rahul Yadav, Delhi's wicketkeeper, kept it simple. "I don't know. I haven't spoken to Gautam bhaiya about it."

On an eventful day when the press was expecting both teams to be represented by senior members who could clarify matters, they chose to ignore the incident and sent out two junior cricketers who are not yet in a position to publicly pass their opinions on matters outside the purview of actual play.

Rahul informed that a viral fever forced Virender Sehwag, who had made an attractive 49 from No.4 in the first innings, to drop himself down the order and come out to bat on the final day. Sehwag, who has been infected by flu since late last month, missed the last two league games, and reached Bhubaneswar only on the eve of the quarterfinal and did not participate in the team's nets session.

Rahul was hopeful that Sehwag would be fit tomorrow, and he also exuded optimism that his team would fight it out to save the game and qualify for the semifinal on the basis of a 10-run first-innings lead.

"Our batting line-up is long and the wicket is true. It is about having just one partnership in the morning session tomorrow and things will improve," said Rahul. "The game is not yet over. There is still a lot left. Our focus is to bat out time, not to chase down the target."

Lad, on his part, explained his team's batting strategy at the start of the fourth day. He, alongwith Thakur, Harmeet Singh and Balwinder Singh Sandhu had been told to spend more time at the crease and "tire out" the Delhi fielders. They did that successfully, batting for 23.3 overs and added 74 runs to their overnight tally of 376 for 7.

Lad also said that Gambhir's wicket was vital, because he was capable of batting out one full day. He felt that the pitch has become easier to bat on, but was confident of his team's bowling attack picking up the last six Delhi wickets, register an outright win and go through to the semifinals.

All well answered by two young cricketers, but what about the day's biggest issue, the Thakur-Gambhir confrontation? What happened on the ground? What was said? What triggered Gambhir's volatile response? How close was it to becoming a physical assault? Do such incidents on the field set the right precedent? Should not Gambhir, an international star, and Thakur, an emerging bowler, apologise for their misconduct or have such things become a part of the modern game?

Just as the officials were getting into their vehicles, Daniel Manohar, the match referee, let the pressmen know that no action had yet been taken against the two, and in case of any further development it would be Sanjay Patel, Board of Control for Cricket in India's secretary, and not he who would be intimating us through a media release.

So much for chasing the right answer.