'You need a little bit of confrontation on the field': Ravi Shastri reveals the upside of verbal fights between players in live matches

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 will be remembered for a lot of things.

SportsTak

• Thu • 18 May 2023

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 will be remembered for a lot of things. For one, Sunil Gavaskar ran to take MS Dhoni's autograph, Rinku Singh smashed five consecutive sixes in Yash Dayal's over and Yashasvi Jaiswal created history by smashing the fastest half-century in IPL history. The ongoing edition will also be remembered for one of the most infamous incidents which saw Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir engage in a heated exchange.

Speaking about the on-field confrontation in live matches, particularly in IPL, former India captain and head coach, Ravi Shastri stated an upside of verbal fights in matches.

"You need a little bit of confrontation on the field. Where you draw the line, the match referee is there to see the line. When you're fined, once or twice you will be ok," said Shastri on Cricinfo.

Shastri explained in detail how players tend to learn from their own mistakes and that only happens after the heated exchange is watched by millions around the world.

"A lot of people told me, this is IPL. This is a live telecast. Why were they showing two players fighting? Ok, fair point. Because the world saw it. Now I will tell you the positive in that," Shastri continued.

"By seeing that, both the players will behave differently the next time. Because they will know there is a camera on them all the time. Then they will do the right thing for the massive audience that is watching. Kids, parents, friends. You then know what is the line.

"Have I used abusive language? Was my body language not right? Was that in the spirit of the game? Did I come across as a bad loser? All these things immediately come to the fore once you watch that footage. And then you learn. If you don't learn, then another fine will be around the corner or a suspension," said Shastri.