Kieron Pollard-Mitchell Starc on-field spat: Chris Gayle says these things happen in cricket

  Mumbai: May 7, 2014   Chris Gayle on Wednesday brushed aside the ugly verbal spat between his Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) teammate  Mitchell Starc and Mumbai Indians' batsman Kieron Pollard, during their Indian Permier League (IPL) 2014 match at Mumbai. Pollard threw his bat at the bowler, but Gayle said these things happen in cricket.   "It is an intense game. Two teams down and looking to get two points for the team. It is one of those moments. These things happen in cricket. It is not going to be the last for these things to happen in cricket and it is not the first that has happened in cricket also," Gayle said.   The incident referred to was the hurling of the cricket bat by West Indies all-rounder Pollard at Australian left-arm pacer Starc after the latter delivered the ball to him despite the batsman having backed off from the crease.   It was an ugly incident as Pollard had advanced menacingly at Starc before throwing his bat which, luckily, hit the turf well away from the bowler.  Both players had to be separated by umpires S Ravi and K Srinath and they had a talk with RCB captain Virat Kohli too while Gayle pacified Pollard.   There have been quite a few battles between West Indies players and Australians recently, and asked about the coincidence, Gayle said there is no rivalry as such in IPL as teams have players from both the countries.   "We battle internationally. Pollard has Australians in his team, I have the same. It is just that things go off on a particular day. There is no rivalry when you look at those sort of things. We are in a group so it is a different scenario and it is not international so it is a different scenario," he said without elaborating.   Click here for IPL 2014 Points Table and Team Standings   Click here for IPL 2014 Schedule: Match time table for IPL 7   Click here for IPL 2014 Schedule & Results   Click here for IPL 2014 complete coverage