Sunil Gavaskar lauds umpires' timely interference as Kohli-Stokes involve in verbal spat

Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar lauded on-field umpires Nitin Menon and Virender Sharma for their timely intervention as Indian skipper Virat Kohli and star England all-rounder Ben Stokes were involved in a heated exchange on Day 1 of the ongoing fourth and final Test at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

'It was good to see the umpires coming ': Sunil Gavaskar

During the lunch break on Day 1, the 1983 World Cup winner went on to say that sometimes things do get heated up on the field but it was good to see that the on-field had made their presence felt just in time before things were blown out of proportion.
“These kinds of things do happen. The heat is on. That’s why I got my hat on as well. These kinds of things can sometimes spill over. The bowler said something to the batsman, the batsman said something to the bowler, and it can spill over,” said Gavaskar while speaking on Star Sports.

“But it was good to see the umpires coming and making sure it’s nipped before it gets ugly. It’s part of the game, both players are doing their best for the country, trying to win the game, and therefore the emotions can sometimes get the better of you,” the cricketer-turned-commentator/analyst added.

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Kohli & Stokes involved in a verbal spat

In the 13th over of the England innings, Indian pacer Mohammad Siraj bowled a bouncer to Ben Stokes and stared at the batsman. In response, Stokes uttered a few words but Siraj refrained from responding. In came skipper Virat Kohli, who began his own duel with the English all-rounder, and the two were seen engaging in a fiery exchange of words. On-field umpires Nitin Menon and Virender Sharma intervened the two before letting the situation escalate further.

Watch the entire incident here:

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Coming back to the on-field action, Ben Stokes top-scored for the visitors with 55 while middle-order batsman Dan Lawrence chipped in with 43. Meanwhile, none of the other batsmen could offer any resistance on a perfect batting track as they missed a great opportunity to keep the scoreboard ticking despite the coin landing in Test skipper Joe Root's favor on Thursday morning. Most of the English batsmen even failed to breach double-figures as they were eventually bundled out for 205 in their first innings. 

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