The third and final Test match of the India-Sri Lanka series at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo will be remembered for India recording their first series win in 22 years in the island nation, but also for the spat between Ishant Sharma and a few of the Sri Lankan players on the field.
The ICC have punished the players involved in the episode, with Ishant slapped with a one Test match ban, while Dinesh Chandimal has been banned for one ODI. Dhammika Prasad and Lahiru Thirimanne have been fined 50% of their match fees.
Former India cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi was not happy with what transpired on the field as he believes it was a 'pathetic display of aggression'.
"See they talked about aggression and then Ishant gets banned for a match. Is this what you want on a cricket field? This is pathetic display of aggression. And remember this has nothing to do with Virat [Kohli's] aggression, who is just giving statement after statement and trying to sell his aggression through words," PTI quoted Bedi as saying.
Virat Kohli, as has been witnessed in the past, has an aggressive approach towards the game, which Bedi feels the captain needs to control.
"He [Kohli] did a very good job in the context of this series but he needs to control his aggro. There is always one camera which is focused on the captain, so he has to be an exceptionally good role model. You be aggressive with your bat, ball and fielding, not with your mouth."
However, Kohli does deserve a lot of credit for the way he handled the team in Sri Lanka, especially considering it was his first full-fledged series as captain. These are early days in his captaincy period, but Kohli, who will be confident after defeating Sri Lanka, faces a tough task in his next assignment as India's captain, with the South Africa Test series starting in November.
"These are very early days as far as his captaincy is concerned. There is so much more to be done. And there are far too many lacunas in the Indian team. We would be absolutely blind if we don't see the shortcomings now," Bedi said.
