Legendary South African cricketer Jacques Kallis said on Sunday that the ball-tampering scandal involving the Australian team was a “big wake-up call” for international cricket.
The Australian cricket board banned captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner for one year, while opener Cameron Bancroft was suspended for nine months, after the three admitted to conspiring to tamper with the ball during a Test match against South Africa last week.
Smith and Warner were also banned from playing in the 11th season of the Indian Premier League starting on Saturday. Kallis, who is the head coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise, said that the controversy will teach players to be more careful in what they do on the field.
“I think there has been a lot of media and a lot of talk over what has happened in the last few days,” Kallis told reporters on the sidelines of KKR’s jersey launch in Kolkata on Sunday. It’s probably taken up too much of everybody’s time. It’s just made players all around the world aware that you have to be careful of what you do. It’s going to be a big wake-up call.”
Kallis also urged his team to play hard but in a fair manner. “We need to look after this game and make sure we play in the right spirit and the right way. What I will be pressing upon my players is that we play the game hard but we play fair. It’s pretty much how I would like to see KKR play and that’s how we have been playing in the past,” he added.
KKR open their IPL 11 campaign with a home match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday.
With inputs from PTI