Suryakumar Yadav plays the peacemaker in the Arshdeep Snigh-Daryl Mitchell skirmish NEW DELHI: India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav has shared that he has personally apologized to Daryl Mitchell following the on-field incident with Arshdeep Singh during the recent World Cup final. His main goal, he said, was to show the right kind of leadership and sportsmanship.
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What happened during the match
The moment came when Arshdeep threw the ball and it accidentally hit Mitchell on his thighs. The incident didn’t go down well, especially when Arshdeep didn’t immediately apologize. This led to Mitchell confronting him and the situation had to be calmed down by Suryakumar and the umpire.For this act, Arshdeep was fined 15% of his match fee and also received a demerit point from the ICC. Despite the tension, things later settled down. Arshdeep made a public apology after the match and both players shook hands after the game ended. India won comfortably by 96 runs to retain the trophy.
Suryakumar Yadav’s Leadership Approach
Talking about the incident later, Suryakumar played down the seriousness and said such things can happen in the heat of the moment.“Heat of the moment mein kabhi kabhi ho jaata hai (It happens sometimes in the heat of the moment). At that moment you don’t quite understand what is happening. But later I told paaji that it doesn’t happen like that. Then he spoke to Mitchell and it was a light moment,” he told PTI Videos.However, he made it clear that as captain he feels a responsibility to lead by example on the pitch. Therefore, he personally went to apologize to Mitchell regardless of whether the act was intentional or not.“He took it in his own way. But it was very important that I go and tell Daryl Mitchell myself, because as a leader it is also very important what example you set on the ground,” he added.“So I went and told him (Mitchell) the same thing, if Arshdeep did it on purpose then I’m sorry. And even if he didn’t do it on purpose, I’m sorry.”
Arshdeep’s apology
After the match, Arshdeep also commented on the incident and clarified that there was no intention behind the throw.“I just want to apologize to Mitchell. My throw spun and hit him, so I just wanted to apologize to him for that. It wasn’t intentional,” he said.
