India T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav has disclosed that he personally apologized to New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell after he was struck by a throw from Arshdeep Singh during the recent T20 World Cup final in an effort to lead by example.
The ICC penalized Arshdeep 15% of his match fee and handed him a penalty point for tossing the ball that struck Mitchell on his pads. Mitchell confronted the bowler after he failed to apologize right away, which caused Suryakumar and the on-field umpires to step in.
At the conclusion of the match, which India won by 96 runs to retain the trophy, Arshdeep apologized in public and the two players shook hands.
In a podcast interview with PTI Videos, Suryakumar downplayed the incident when questioned about the anger on display at the time.
“Heat of the moment mein kabhi kabhi ho jaata hai (It happens in the heat of the moment sometimes). At that time you don’t fully understand what is happening. But later, I told paaji, that this is not how it happens. He then spoke to Mitchell and it was a light moment,” the skipper said.
“He took it in his stride. But it was very important for me to go and tell Daryl Mitchell myself, because as a leader, what example you set on the ground, that is also very important. So I went and told him (Mitchell) the same thing, if Arshdeep did it deliberately, then I am sorry. And even if he did not do it deliberately, I am sorry,” he revealed.
Soon after the game, Arshdeep apologized in public during a post-match interview with the broadcaster.
“Just want to apologise to Mitchell. My throw reverse-swung and hit him so just wanted to say sorry to him for that. It was not intentional,” he had said.
