There’s “no real right and wrong” in terms of going by the rulebook or maintaining the spirit of cricket, said Rahul Dravid, making his stand clear on the much-debated topic.
Angelo Mathews’ timed-out dismissal during the recent Sri Lanka-Bangladesh game at the Ferozeshah Kotla in New Delhi had once again sparked the debate on the spirit of cricket. Both the senior Sri Lanka all-rounder and Bangladesh skipper Shakib-Al Hasan have had their share of support regarding the incident, but Dravid believes “having those differences is fine”.
“Everyone thinks differently. We are all unique creatures and we have our own minds and our own thoughts. Each one of us will think differently about a particular situation. And there is no real right and wrong,” the India head coach said on Saturday, the eve of the game against the Netherlands at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
“You can go and debate both the situations. You can debate whether we have to stick to the rules as they are or if you have to sometimes give a little leeway for a little bit of spirit of cricket. And there’ll be people on both sides of the camp. So, I think just understanding that it’s okay to have those differences is fine.”
Dravid though believes one cannot complain if another prefers to follow the rules and attach greater importance to them. “It’s fine to have those differences and some people might agree or not with certain decisions that were taken.
“Others will say, ‘No, it’s in the rules, so I’m allowed to do it and that’s the way it is.’ When someone wants to take the letter of the law to the last nth degree, I don’t think you can complain about it because he’s just following the rules as he sees it.
“You might not do it yourself. But you can’t blame somebody for following it (rules), because you put that in place and give scope for that level of understanding of somebody. Whether you choose to do it or not is completely your decision,” Dravid explained.
