‘Spirit of cricket’: Daryl Mitchell leaves Twitter impressed after turning down 'controversial' single against England
The incident took place in the first delivery of the 18th over bowled by England spinner Adil Rashid with Jimmy Neesham on strike. New Zealand at that moment required 34 off the final three overs.
Daryl Mitchell upheld New Zealand's tag of being the ‘nice guys’ of cricket as he guided the Black Caps to their maiden final appearance in T20 World Cup. The gesture shown by the opener, during the course of his match-winning 72* off 47 balls against England, was appreciated by fans on social media, who described the moment as "sportsmanship at its very best."
The incident took place in the first delivery of the 18th over bowled by England spinner Adil Rashid with Jimmy Neesham on strike. New Zealand at that moment required 34 off the final three overs and despite the crunch Mitchell refused to take the single as he felt he was in the bowler's way, who tried to stop the ball on his follow-through.
Neesham had punched the ball firmly slightly wide off Rashid's reach, who collided with Mitchell as he went to stop the ball. The batter was eager to take the single and had come down the wicket seeing the opportunity, but was turned down by Mitchell from the other end.
‘Spirit of cricket’
The fans hailed the moment on social media, with many appreciating the Kiwi batter for lifting the spirit of the game. Here are a few reactions:
‘I didn’t want controversy’
Throwing more light on the incident, Mitchell during the post-match press conference confirmed that he turned down the single to avoid any kind of controversy.
“I felt I probably got in the way of Rashid a little bit. I didn’t want to be that guy that caused a bit of controversy. We all play the game in good spirit and I just felt like probably it was my fault. As opposed to taking the run, it was probably best to start again and carry on and lucky that it didn’t make a difference,” said Mitchell.