In one of the qualifiers of the Legends League Cricket, the match between Bhilwara Kings and India Capitals, things appeared to be going normally but suddenly took an ugly turn when the cameras panned on Mitchell Jhonson and Yusuf Pathan. It was evident that the duo was involved in an ugly altercation which saw Pathan getting shoved by Mitchell Jhonson in a war of words. The spat between the two could have gotten ugly had the umpires not timely intervened.
The reason behind the two going haywire against each other was not revealed until fresh details did the rounds from Australia yesterday that the altercation stemmed from Yusuf’s unruly behaviour directed at the female umpire Kim Cotton, who was officiating in the match.
The incident unfolded when the final ball of Mitchell Johnson’s third over which was not called wide. Yusuf Pathan did not take a liking to the decision and ended up sledging Kim Cotton for her decision and this did not please Mitchell Jhonson one bit.
Mitch did nothing: Sources
“Mitch [Johnson] did nothing. [Pathan] was sledging the female umpires,” Fox Cricket Australia quoted a player as saying, who decided to keep his identity anonymous.
Due to the altercation between the two, Johnson was fined fifty per cent of his match fees and received an official warning regarding the incident. The penalties were imposed by the convenor of Legends League Cricket Ravi Shastri. Pathan got away without any harsh penalties.
“We are here to promote serious and competitive cricket through this league. What happened yesterday on the ground during the qualifier match shouldn’t have happened. We have closely gone through the video multiple times before coming to any conclusion. I hope everyone gets a clear message that the spirit of the game is of prime importance and such things won’t get repeated in this league,” said Raman Raheja, CEO, and Co-Founder of Legends League Cricket.
The India Capitals won the encounter by 9 wickets.
