Tempers flared during the Kolkata Knight
Riders’ (KKR) Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against the Delhi Capitals (DC) in
Sharjah on Tuesday, as Tim Southee and Ravichandran Ashwin had a heated verbal
exchange. KKR skipper Eoin Morgan also had a few words with the veteran Indian
spinner after his dismissal, with Dinesh Karthik among other KKR players intervening
to break up the argument.

However, Ashwin hit back in the second innings, dismissing Morgan for a two-ball duck to leave KKR reeling at 67/4 in the 12th over. Delhi have set KKR a target of 128 runs.   

The incident occurred in the final over the
DC innings, when Southee dismissed Ashwin with a slower short delivery, which
the Chennai-born player pulled to pick out Nitish Rana at deep square leg. Following
the dismissal, Southee and Ashwin were seen having a go at each other, which presumably
had something to do about the last ball of the previous over – when Pant stole
an extra run following sloppy fielding by Venkatesh Iyer. It could also have been down to a few words from Southee as a send-off for Ashwin. 

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After Ashwin’s exchange with Southee, Morgan got involved and
had a go at the Indian spinner. The argument between the two was threatening to
blow out of proportions, as Ashwin took off his helmet and was marching towards
the English captain.

A few KKR players, including Tamil Nadu
batsman Karthik intervened and led Ashwin away from the scene.

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Watch the incident here:

Speaking on the incident after the innings,
former Indian batsman and KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir said there was no need for
Southee to say anything to Ashwin after dismissing him. He also criticised Morgan’s
involvement, saying a captain should not engage in such exchanges.

 Meanwhile,
Delhi finished with a meagre total of 127 for the loss of nine wickets from
their 20 overs courtesy a disciplined showing from the Kolkata bowlers. Sunil
Narine was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with figures of 2/18 from four
overs, with Venkatesh Iyer and Lockie Ferguson also scalping two wickets each.

Delhi openers Shikhar Dhawan (24), Steven Smith (39), replacing Prithvi Shaw, and
skipper Rishabh Pant (39) failed to convert decent starts, with no other
batsman reaching two figures.