David Warner fined for verbal spat with Rohit Sharma

The Australian batsman defended his ‘speak English line’, as he said, “I did the polite thing and asked him to speak English.”

Australian opener David Warner was fined 50 percent of his match fee after he was found guilty of breaking International Cricket Council (ICC) Code of Conduct during the second One-Day International (ODI) of the ongoing tri-series between India and Australia.

Warner had an on-field altercation with Indian opener Rohit Sharma in the match played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), where the 28-year old continuously said ‘speak English’ to Rohit. Other players and umpires intervened to stop the argument which looked to have turned ugly.

As reported by Cricketcountry, Warner was quoted as saying, “We play hard aggressive cricket but we know what comes with it, sometimes you are going to get fined. We’ve just got to keep trying not to cross that line, because we’re all about playing cricket the right way.”

Warner further defended his ‘speak English’ line as he added, “When I went over to say something to him, he sort of said something in their language and I said ‘speak English’ because, if you’re going to say something, understand that theoretically I cannot speak Hindi.”

“So I did the polite thing and asked him to speak English, therefore he did and I can’t repeat what he said. I thought I was OK by asking him to speak English and I am going to say it a couple of times if he keeps saying it in Hindi.”

But the cricketer also admitted his mistake as he said, “I was in the wrong … I shouldn’t have engaged him.”

Australian coach Darren Lehmann said that the Austrians play aggressive cricket. “If the ICC decides we cross the line, then they’ll come down on us — we all know that. We’re always going to teeter pretty close to it — that’s the way that we play — we’ve just got to make sure that we don’t cross it,” said Lehmann.

Supporting Warner’s competitive character, Lehmann said, “It’s just making sure he does the right thing on the ground. He knows that better than most, anyway. We’ll work with him with that.”