Apologised to Daryl Mitchell for Arshdeep throwing incident: Suryakumar

New Delhi, Mar 17: India’s T20 skipper Suryakumar Yadav has revealed that he personally apologised to New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell after he was hit by an Arshdeep Singh throw during the recent World Cup final as he wanted to set an example of good leadership.

Arshdeep was fined 15 per cent of his match fee and handed a demerit point by the ICC for throwing the ball that hit Mitchell on his pads. The pacer did not immediately apologise which prompted Mitchell to confront him, leading to an intervention by Suryakumar and the on-field umpires.

Arshdeep eventually issued a public apology and the two players shook hands at the end of the match that India won by 96 runs to retain the trophy.

Asked about the aggression on display in that moment during a podcast interview with PTI Videos, Suryakumar made light of the incident.

“Heat of the moment mein kabhi kabhi ho jaata hai (It happens in the heat of the moment sometimes). At that time you don’t fully understand what is happening. But later, I told paaji, that this is not how it happens. He then spoke to Mitchell and it was a light moment,” the skipper said.

“He took it in his stride. But it was very important for me to go and tell Daryl Mitchell myself, because as a leader, what example you set on the ground, that is also also very important.

“So I went and told him (Mitchell) the same thing, if Arshdeep did it deliberately, then I am sorry. And even if he did not do it deliberately, I am sorry,” he revealed.

Arshdeep’s public apology came soon after the match during a post-match interview with the broadcaster.

“Just want to apologise to Mitchell. My throw reverse-swung and hit him so just wanted to say sorry to him for that. It was not intentional,” he had said.