India cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir has opined that Arshdeep Singh shouldn’t have apologized to Daryll Mitchell during the T20 World Cup 2026 final after hurling the ball at him. The Indian pacer was fined 15% of his match fee for his gesture against the Kiwi batter, for which he had apologized after the match as well. Gambhir claimed that Singh shouldn’t have said sorry to the batter, adding that representing the country matters the most and not what happens on the field.
Gambhir not okay with Arshdeep’s sorry
In a podcast with news agency ANI, Gambhir said that while it was good for Arshdeep that he apologized, he would have been happy if he hadn’t as well. The India head coach said that such incidents shouldn’t be blown out of propotion and that such incidents had taken place in the past too. Gambhir is no stranger to having fiery moments on the field with the opposition players and has been involved in heated exchanges in the past as a player.
“If he had not said sorry, I was absolutely fine with it. He does not need to say sorry. It’s good on him that he said sorry. But on the cricket field there are no friends or enemies. Your job is to represent your country. Your job is to win a game of cricket for your country. You should not blow these things out of proportion because these things used to happen before too,” Gambhir said.
When the Kiwis were 5 down, and India were certain of winning the match, Arshdeep Singh was involved in a bit of a scuffle with NZ batter Daryl Mitchell. The incident occurred in the 11th over of the innings, when Mitchell hit one back to Arshdeep, and the latter, somehow, ended up aiming a throw on the Kiwi’s thigh.
Later after the match, Arshdeep justified his decision to throw the ball at Mitchell, and blamed reverse swing for his action.
“I just ran off to apologise to Mitchell. The ball reverse-swung when I threw it and it hit him,” he said.
