Gautam Gambhir was not impressed with Warner’s approach as he questioned an “absolutely pathetic” display of the spirit of the game by the Aussie.
Dubai : Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir lashed out at David Warner after the Australian opener smashed a double-bounced delivery of Mohammad Hafeez for a six during Aussies Thursday’s T20 World Cup semi-final win over Pakistan.
In the eighth over of the innings, the ball slipped out awkwardly from Hafeez’s hand. The ball then bounced twice before Warner dispatched it to the stands on the deep mid-wicket. Umpire then signalled the delivery as no-ball because it had bounced two times.
However, former India batter Gautam Gambhir was not impressed with Warner’s approach as he questioned an “absolutely pathetic” display of the spirit of the game by the Aussie. Gambhir took to Twitter to call out the “shameful” act and also tagged India spinner R Ashwin for his views on the same.
“What an absolutely pathetic display of spirit of the game by Warner! #Shameful What say @ashwinravi99?” he wrote.
David Warner scored a quickfire 30-ball 49 before heading back to the dressing room. He was caught behind by Mohammad Rizwan off leggie Shadab Khan.
Gambhir also questioned Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting for their previous spirit of the game remarks.
“Shane Warne comments and tweets on everything. Even Ricky Ponting makes big, big claims about the spirit of the game. What have they got to say about this?” said Gautam Gambhir while speaking on the Star Sports’ post-match show.
“When Ashwin does Mankad, they come up with big comments. Today, what has Shane Warne got to say about David Warner? Because it’s easy to criticise someone but extremely difficult to criticise your own players,” he added.
About the match, Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis produced a brilliant partnership to carry Australia to a stunning five-wicket victory over Pakistan and set up a date with New Zealand in the final. When David Warner and Glenn Maxwell fell in successive overs from Shadab Khan, the chase of 177 seemed doomed, but Stoinis and Wade had other ideas as they put on 81 in 7.4 overs.
