R Ashwin takes sly dig at Australia batter's six off dead ball; 'Wonderful hit by Warner'

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took to his official Twitter handle on Friday and replied to former cricketer Gautam Gambhir’s cryptic tweet against Australian opener David Warner. Warner made headlines during Australia vs Pakistan, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup semifinal match on Thursday not only for scoring a match-winning knock of 49 runs off 30 balls but also for hitting a ball that bounced twice for a six. In the eighth over of Australia’s chase Pakistan all-rounder, Mohammad Hafeez bowled a ball to Warner that bounced twice off the pitch after slipping from his hands and still didn’t make it to the batter. However, Warner reached to the ball going to his leg side and smacked it for a six as the ball was signalled a no-ball from the umpire. 

On watching Warner hit the six off a seemingly no-ball former Indian cricketer Gambhir was furious while talking on Star Sport’s post-match show and questioned some of the Aussie legends, who earlier spoke about the spirit of the game. Gambhir then took to his Twitter handle and opined on Warner’s and also asked Ashwin for his say. Gambhir received many replies to the post, out of which one user said the tweet was a bad take from the former cricketer. 

Gautam Gambhir's take on David Warner

Replying to the tweet, R Ashwin defended Gambhir by explaining to the user, “His point is that if this is right, that was right. If that was wrong, this is wrong too. Fair assessment?” Another user replied to Ashwin by saying Warner did nothing wrong by playing the ball in front of him. Replying to the user, Ashwin further added that the six was absolutely a wonderful hit by David Warner. 

R Ashwin's take on David Warner's shot

While the internet seemed divided with their opinions on Warner, the Aussie certainly went on to play a match-winning knock as Australia reached the T20 World Cup 2021 finals. He top-scored for the team with a quickfire knock of 49 runs off just 30 balls by striking the bowlers at a strike rate of 163.33. As Warner was dismissed, Marcus Stoinis scored 40 runs off 31 balls, with Matthew Wade hitting three back-to-back sixes to bring the semifinal win home for Australia. Wade finished the match with 41 unbeaten runs off just 17 balls.

(Image: AP/t20worldcup.com/ICC)