IPL: Ashwin, Morgan in on-field spat after cheeky run

• SCORECARD

Delhi Capitals bowler Ravichandran Ashwin and Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Eoin Morgan were involved in a heated exchange after the former was dismissed by Tim Southee in the last over of Delhi’s innings, in the Indian Premier League match at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

The Kolkata outfit seemed to have been irked after Delhi skipper Rishabh Pant and Ashwin went for a second run off the last ball of the 19th over.

Many consider stealing a cheeky single when the ball thrown by the fielder ricochets off the batter against the guidelines of 'Fair Play.

It finally needed former KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik to intervene and stop the heated exchange between the players.

Delhi coach Ricky Ponting was also seen speaking with umpire Nitin Menon during the innings break. While one wasn't sure about what the two discussed, it could be the same point.

Meanwhile, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer and Lockie Ferguson scalped two wickets each and Tim Southee took one as KKR restricted Delhi to just 127 for 9 in their 20 overs.

Steve Smith and Rishabh Pant scored 39 each to boost Delhi’s total.

In reply, Kolkata Knight Riders hit up the required runs in 18.2 overs, finishing with 130-7.

Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana were Kolkata's top scorers, with 30 and 36 respectively.

Speaking after the Delhi Capitals innings, Smith said: "Not an easy surface to play on. With the new ball, the only boundaries we got was when they overpitched or Shikhar (Dhawan) sort of made it into a half-volley. When you bowl that good, hard length, some are skidding a bit low and some are stopping on the surface.

“As the ball got a little bit older, it just held up and took a bit of spin as well. We were probably looking for somewhere between 140 and 150, we are below that, but, hopefully, we can take a few early wickets, put some pressure on, squeeze through the middle and scrape throughout the whole 20.

"Our boys have been bowling exceptionally well, so, hopefully, we can start really well. It's just one of those wickets where you have to scrape and it's not an easy one to hit boundaries. We didn't hit a single six and that's pretty rare here in Sharjah. There was no real swing there, cross-seam and just rolling your fingers over the ball, slower balls and just good hard length, keep things pretty simple and just keep scrapping throughout the whole 20 overs."

• IPL 2021