Press Trust of India
New Delhi, Nov 2: Stressing the need to keep the spirit of gentleman’s game alive, Indian limited-overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said Monday that the IPL has helped players from across the globe connect with each other and reduced ‘ugly sledging’ from cricket.
“We play a gentleman’s game. We want to win, but have to do it in the right way. IPL has taken the ugly sledging away from cricket. Friendly banter is good and that’s what these Twenty20 Leagues have done. Really helped the cricketers in streamlining in what was known as sledging,” Dhoni, who shared the stage with West Indies batsman Chris Gayle, said at a promotional event here.
“IPL has helped us a lot to deal with it (sledging). It has helped different players from different cultures come together and share the same dressing room. IPL got me closer to many individuals, whom I might not have interacted with otherwise.
“I don’t even interact with Indian players in IPL fearing what their team’s policy might be, so I take care of all these things. But my equation with many players has improved just because of IPL,” the wicketkeeper-batsman added.
Gayle, who shares a great rapport with Dhoni, not only mimicked the batsman’s patent ‘helicopter shot’ on stage but also agreed with the Indian skipper on IPL easing tension between players.
“I agree with MS (Dhoni) about IPL. It has done wonders for the entire cricket fraternity,” asserted Gayle. “Yes, there is friendly sledging, like I enjoy with (Kieron) Pollard, but otherwise it’s cool,” he added.
