Gautam Gambhir took on Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting for their long-standing take on ‘spirit of cricket’, also tweeting pictures of David Warner hitting Mohammad Hafeez’s double-bouncer for a six and sarcastically terming it “absolutely pathetic”.

During Australia’s T20 World Cup semi-final against Pakistan, Mohammed Hafeez’s first delivery slipped out of the his hand and bounced twice, before Warner rushed towards it and smashed the ball for a six over deep mid-wicket. According to MCC’s laws of cricket, a ball is deemed no-ball if it bounces more than once or rolls on the pitch before reaching the popping crease.

The delivery was therefore a no-ball, but legal for Warner to hit.

Gambhir, who has been vocal in his support for R Ashwin’s stance on sportsmanship, tweeted the pictures with the caption: “What an absolutely pathetic display of spirit of the game by Warner! #Shameful What say @ashwinravi99?”.

What an absolutely pathetic display of spirit of the game by Warner! #Shameful What say @ashwinravi99? pic.twitter.com/wVrssqOENW

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) November 11, 2021

A TV clipping also did the rounds on Twitter, with Gambhir attacking Warne and Ponting for their stances against Ashwin in the past. Ponting and Ashwin have been at loggerheads over the off-spinner’s take on ‘Mankads’, while Warne recently called Ashwin’s decision to take an extra run in the IPL “disgraceful” after the ball had ricocheted off the non-striker’s body.

“Shane Warne makes all kinds of comments,” Gambhir said, “tweets about everything, Ricky Ponting says big things about the spirit of the game. What will they say about this [Warner incident]?”

“When Ashwin ‘Mankads’, you get to hear all sorts of big talk – what does Warne have to say about Warner today? It’s easy to say things about others, difficult to say about your own players.”

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