The ICC has decided not to fine Virat Kohli and members of the India team after a stump microphone incident in the third Test at Newlands. Photo: Twitter
Elgar ‘loved’ Kohli’s sledging: India felt the pressure!
Proteas Test captain Dean Elgar says the sledging from the India team ‘played into their hands’ as the visitors took their eyes off the ball.
The ICC has decided not to fine Virat Kohli and members of the India team after a stump microphone incident in the third Test at Newlands. Photo: Twitter
In one particular incident that made plenty of headlines, India captain Virat Kohli was left furious after questioning a DRS decision that saw a LBW decision against Dean Elgar overturned on day three of the third Test that the Proteas went on to win in sensational fashion.
In a much-talked about moment in the Proteas’ second innings, Elgar was initially given out by umpire Marais Erasmus, but he opted to review the decision.
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It looked as if he had been trapped in front of the wickets, but the Decision Review System tracked the ball to be going just over the stumps.
The Indian team reacted with disbelief, particularly Kohli, who spoke furiously into the stump mic. Meanwhile, another Indian player – believed to be KL Rahul – could be heard saying it was a case of the whole country being against the India team.
Some reports suggest Ashwin could also be heard intimating that SuperSport had somehow rigged the decision in favour of South Africa, while Kohli was believed to have said: “Focus on your team while they shine the ball. Not just the opposition. Trying to catch people all the time.”
That comment seemed to be in reference to the infamous ‘Sandpaper-gate’ ball-tampering scandal when Australia were shown to be illegally roughing up the ball during a series in South Africa in 2018.
Other footage also showed Kohli chirping Elgar earlier in the game and insisting the Proteas captain couldn’t keep him quiet, while also making reference to a controversial Test match in 2018. As it turned out, Elgar was eventually given out caught behind off the final ball of the day.
After the match, though, Elgar clearly was in a position to have the last laugh, and provided his views on the chirps from the India team during that period of play.
“Love it,” was Elgar’s response when asked for his views on the sledging.
“It was obviously a team that was maybe under a little bit of pressure and things weren’t going their way, like they have been quite used to of late.
“A bit of Test match cricket pressure, I would think. I think it gave us a little window period to score a bit more freely and chip away at the target we needed.
“I think it played nicely into our hands that, for a period of time, they actually forgot about the game, and they were challenging a bit more of the emotional side of what Test cricket has to offer.
“I was extremely happy that it happened that way, but be that as it may, we still had to execute our skills and today with the bat knowing that the wicket was playing a little bit into the bowler’s favour.”
Unsurprisingly, Kohli quickly began to trend across Twitter, with many reacting angrily – and sometimes humorously – to his emotional outburst. Interestingly, the India captain has now stepped down from leadership duties in the red-ball format.
You can see all the Twitter reaction from the Elgar-Kohli incident below:
WATCH: ALL THE CONTROVERSY, CLASHES IN ILL-TEMPERED PROTEAS-INDIA TEST
This latest drama comes after there were also plenty of talking points from the second Test between the Proteas and India in a heated match that was filled with ‘niggle’.
The first signs of what turned into an ill-tempered Test first surfaced when Proteas youngster Marco Jansen and India star Jasprit Bumrah clashed in a heated exchange during the second Test at the Wanderers.
On the penultimate day of play, footage also emerged of Rishabh Pant telling the Proteas’ Rassie van der Dussen to keep his mouth shut.
In the closing stages of the Test, Dean Elgar and Mohammed Siraj were also engaged in an on-field altercation.
Elgar had frustrated the Indian bowlers with an unbeaten 96 in Johannesburg to chase down 240 and level the series 1-1, and Siraj grew increasingly exasperated, leading to repeated verbal exchanges with the Proteas Test captain as tempers flared.
The South African batsman could later be heard telling the umpires that Siraj had been constantly “chirping” him and that he wasn’t going to “just stand there and say nothing”.
