Graeme Swann bats for Kohli, says sport would be 'dull' without conflict

Former England offspinner Graeme Swann feels the controversial bustup between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli is nothing compared to what he has witnessed in the fiercelycontested Ashes series adding that the sport would be dull without such incidentsKohli and Gambhir had a verbal spat during Royal Challengers Bangalores away match against Lucknow Super Giants on May 1The former Indian skipper was also seen getting into an argument with Afghan pacer NaveenulHaq and Kyle Mayers as the match grabbed attention for all the wrong reasonsAlso ReadIPL 2023 Points Table Resurgent Mumbai moves third Kohlis RCB slips furtherLets face it if there was never any conflict in sport it would be so dull Having played Ashes test series throughout my life this is nothing compared to that Swann an expert with JioCinema said in a virtual interactionKohli and Gambhir who is the LSG team mentor faced heavy sanctions and were fined 100 per cent of their match fees for breaching the IPLs Code of ConductNaveen was also charged with 50 per cent of his match feesSwann feels theres nothing wrong with Kohli being ultraaggressive and opined that he is Kohli because of his passion for the gameYou should never try to dilute the players so much that they do not wear their hearts on their sleevesOne of the reasons Virat Kohli is Virat Kohli is because hes so passionate about his cricket Hes so in your face when hes playing and he intimidates a lot of playersSome may think hes going too far They are massive personalities who grew up and played together Gautam is never going to back down to ViratIf it spills over off the field and theres swearing stuff then thats wrong As long as there are handshakes after the game and has not created a bad image on the screen then Im all for their passion he addedImpact Player to ODIs rescueThe introduction of the Impact Player rule has seen the IPL post a record number of 200plus totals and Swann believes it should be implemented at the International level especially in the ODI format which many believe is dyingThe Impact Player rule which first came into play in the Indian domestic cricket allows teams to replace any one member of their playing XI during the matchI see it as a success and it should come into international cricket especially in 50over format because that needs something to liven it up Swann saidIts nowhere near to T20s anymore I think it works There should not be just one player to pick from there should be like a bench like in football you have five subs and at any point of time you can just get one in I would not have any issue with that ever he saidMS Dhoni is still going strong and the Englishman believes there is no reason why this season should by the World Cupwinning captains swansong It is widely perceived that the ongoing IPL would be the last time Dhoni would be seen in actionEvery time he goes into bat hes smashing sixes Why this will be his last year is beyond me If he wants to keep on playing he can do whatever he likesIn my books he is brilliant with the gloves brilliant with the bat and his captaincy is still the best in the IPL I dont think its his last year I think hes too big to goAsked about Kolkata Knight Riders spinner Sunil Narines listless show this season Swann said hes just having confidence issues and the Trinidadian should not be written offI just think hes bowling without the confidence in himself Sometimes you get that little bit of luck when a bad ball gets a wicket and it feels right againIm not writing him off I will still pick him in my team When you have Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma bowling so well they can hide him Narine a little bit Swann addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever