Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has doubted the severity of the punishment meted to Sri Lanka fast bowler Asitha Fernando after his clash in the second Test at Colombo.
Jaiswal was suspended from his match fee by 25 per cent and awarded a demerit point after the incident. The Indian hitman hit into an inside edge onto his stumps, came back towards Fernando and seemingly responded to a send-off from the Sri Lankans. Dhananjaya de Silva the Sri Lanka skipper broke the deadlock by dabbling them briefly before they made some physical contact with one another.
If the referee had sent a stiffer message than that about physical contact not being an accepted part of cricket, it may have been to stop such incidents, Sanjay Manjrekar said. Reacting on the social media platform, he cited another recent incident where young India batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was let go and said that forgiving them will lead the players to commit such acts again.
In June, Sooryavanshi had pushed Sri Lanka A batter Vishen Halambage after a close Super Over competition. Both players got slapped 50 per cent bans and Tilak Varma and Niroshan Dickwella were penalised for their role.
Manjrekar had earlier pointed out that Sooryavanshi needed to be dropped for the next match. His recent remarks give his clear voice of worry over the possibility of physical altercations among Indian players.