Jacques Kallis speaks his mind on the ball-tampering issue

The recent ball-tampering fiasco that ensued in the third Test between Australia and South Africa, has taken the world by a storm, to say the least. Sooner or later, most major cricketers have come out with opinions of their own, be it sympathizing with the banned trio of Australian captain, Steve Smith, the vice-captain, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft involved in the messy affair or blasting them for their action. Veteran South African player, Jacques Kallis recently expressed his views on the unceremonious event.

In a press conference arranged by HMD Global and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Sunday(April 1) at the ITC Sonar Bangla Hotel in Kolkata, Kallis voiced his opinion on how he perceived the issue and its aftermath.

The presser, which was attended by the entire available squad of the KKR, was a high-octane event that saw the unveiling of the new KKR jersey. Kallis will be acting as the Head Coach of the Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise in the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Jacques Kallis thinks ‘Sandpaper Gate’ was ‘a big wake-up call’

On being asked of his views on the ball tampering issue and if the judgement passed had been too harsh on the Smith-Warner-Bancroft trio, Kallis said, “I think, there’s been a lot of media and a lot of talk of what has happened over the last few days, and it’s probably taken up too much of everyone’s time. So, I’m not going to add to that too much. I think it’s just been a wake-up call for everyone in International Cricket that we need to savour this game and look after it and make sure that we play it in the right spirit and in the right way.”

The 42-year old stressed on how important it is to play the gentleman’s game in the right spirit and concluded, “Certainly what I’ll be pressing upon my players is that we play the game hard, but we play it fair. That’s pretty much how I’d like to see KKR play and how we’ve played in the past. I think it’s just made players all around the world aware that you gotta be careful what you do, because there are a lot of cameras out there now. So like I said, it’s been a big wake-up call.”