"You should never try and dilute the players who wear their hearts on their sleeves" - Graeme Swann believes heated exchanges are great for IPL
Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann believes that sometimes being in the heat of the moment makes players have a go at each other and he is completely fine with it.
There has been a lot of debate about what unfolded on the field after the game between the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Lucknow.
The on-field spat between Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq and then between Kohli and Gautam Gambhir was caught on camera. Many felt that such incidents didn't need to take place during a match.
However, in a media interaction, Graeme Swann, who is also an IPL expert for Jio Cinema, explained how such banter keeps passionate players like Virat Kohli going. He said:
"Having played cricket all my life, sometimes emotions boil over on the field and you know what, it's good for the league. You should never try and dilute the players who wear their hearts on their sleeves. Someone like Virat Kohli is Virat Kohli for the passion with which he plays his cricket.
"There might be people who think that sometimes it goes too far but Gautam Gambhir is a big personality and won't back down. So as long as there are handshakes after the game and it doesn't make an unpleasant picture on the screen, I am fine with it."
Graeme Swann on captains over-relying on match-ups
Graeme Swann also opened up on how the role of finger-spinners, particularly right-arm off-spinners, play a role in a T20 only if there's a match-up. He believes these off-spinners are more than capable of dismissing right-handers and captains should trust their gut rather than being over-reliant on numbers.
Responding to a query from Sportskeeda, here's what Graeme Swann stated:
"I had the same discussion with Anil Kumble a couple of days ago, and I think it is going a bit too far with the analytics. Because if players now only practice against their match-ups, an off-spinner will never bowl against a right-hander. So in three years, there will be no data and we will be back to square one.
"Mooen Ali is very good in getting right-handers out. Look at his record against Virat Kohli. I think match-ups take the gut instinct away from the bowler and the captain. I would like the captain to think with his head rather than just look at a screen."
Ravichandran Ashwin remains arguably the best among the right-arm off-spinners who have taken part in the IPL 2023 season.