Praveen Kumar is an angry man. He has confessed to yielding to ‘two minutes of anger’ many times in the past, and finding reasons to regret it as well. On Friday, there was an outburst of anger yet again, and yet again he would have reasons to wish he had not given in to the urge. David Warner, the man at the receiving end of his threatening gestures, once known to be a volatile person himself, was happy to play the role of the bigger man and reply with a smile and matchwinning strokes from his bat.
In the 17th over of the Sunrisers Hyderabad innings in the knockout match against Gujarat Lions, this unseemly incident took place, which might lead to some sanction imposed against Praveen. With the match being taken to the last over and Warner proving to be the Lions’ thorn, perhaps Praveen thought he would try a different ploy.
Bipul Sharma had slammed him for a six previously in the over, and he would have been seething inside. He got the final ball of the over to dip late, almost breaking through Warner’s blockhole. After Warner got into a tangle to somehow fend the ball back, Praveen picked the ball up, swivelled around, and threatened to throw it back at the batsman.
Warner, who in the past might have been seen walking up to his antagonist in a similar situation, showed how far he has comes in terms of on-field maturity. The Sunrisers captain did not give an inch to Praveen’s intimidating tactics, and dared the bowler to indeed throw the ball back.
Praveen would not have expected such a response, and he was seen threateningly walking up to Warner, shouting only one word repeatedly – ‘What?’ He kept approaching Warner, who continued smiling until they were almost touching each other. At this point, umpire Marais Erasmus had rushed towards the fracas, and wicket keeper Dinesh Karthik had also thought it best to intervene.
With a calming hand on Praveen’s shoulder, Karthik led Praveen away from the scene. Warner resumed his stance, in preparation for the carnage that was still to come.
Praveen Kumar came on to bowl the final over of the match, with only five runs remaining for a Sunrisers victory. On the first ball of the over, Warner unleashed a drive through covers for four, letting out a roar as the ball threaded the field. He took a single of the second ball to put the matter to rest.
It can be imagined what kind of a relation these two teammates had during their time at Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to the incident:
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
