Irrespective of the format, it’s always a heated affair when Karnataka take on Tamil Nadu. Thanks to the richness of the rivalry, their matches are beyond a contest of bat and ball.
On Thursday, after Karnataka’s thrilling last-over win in the Group B Ranji Trophy encounter, things turned slightly ugly outside the dressing rooms of both the teams when Dinesh Karthik appeared peeved with Karnataka skipper Karun Nair.
On-field umpires and match referee had to intervene to control the senior Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batsman. After the procedural announcement of player-of-the-match, Karthik once again confronted Nair and exchanged words. It was understood that Karthik wasn’t impressed with Karnataka’s excessive appealing and non-stop chatter during Tamil Nadu’s tricky chase of 181.
The Karnataka coach duo of S Arvind and Yere Goud had to calm Karthik down even as Nair tried to explain what happened on the ground. “In a Tamil Nadu vs Karnataka game, these things happen. We should be surprised if it doesn’t happen,” said captain Vijay Shankar.
“It was the way they behaved,” he said when asked what irked Karthik. “It could also be the excessive appealing. Look he is a senior player but sometimes it triggers us. At the end of the day, you need to move on,” said Shankar.
When the nature of the match is intense and pride is at stake, on-field energy is at its highest level and teams do resort to mind games. Incidentally, in the same game, Tamil Nadu opener Murali Vijay was fined 10 per cent of his match fee for dissent. The senior player misbehaved on field and was seen excessively appealing. During both the innings, the Tamil Nadu players too put pressure on Karnataka batsmen with send-offs and mild sledging.
It was surprising that Karthik, who was graceful in Tamil Nadu’s one-run loss in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final earlier this month, lost his cool this time. For someone as senior as him, who has been part of many such close games, Karthik’s outburst was out of place.