England pacer Ollie Robinson has now disclosed the chat he had with Australia opener Usman Khawaja after the infamous send off incident between the two in the first Ashes Test of the ongoing series at the Edgbaston in Birmingham. Robinson said that he initially had no idea that his animated send off after he removed Khawaja has become so big until he checked his phone which was bombarded with messages.
Notably, Robinson was criticised for the use of his words and received backlash from some of the Aussie legends including Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden. The 29-year-old had rattled the stumps of Khawaja to end his knock of 141 after which the said incident took place.
"I didn’t realise the Ussie [Usman Khawaja] send-off was such a big thing until I got off the pitch to find my phone blowing up with mates texting me and it all going off. I just got caught up in the moment. I was desperate for a wicket; I hadn’t bowled that well in the first innings, I’d had that slip in my second over and lost a bit of confidence, and then I was trying to feel my way back in a little bit, having not played much for a while. And obviously Ussie was the big wicket, he was playing beautifully. It was nothing against Ussie, it was just one of those things, I got caught up in the moment and let myself go," said Robinson in his column for Wisden.
"We’ve all seen it with Jimmy [Anderson], Broady, [Glenn] McGrath, Brett Lee. All the bowlers do it when they’re fired up and trying to get a wicket for their team. I spoke to Ussie after as well and we were all good. He was just like, “Mate, just be careful what you say.” It was nothing against him and we had a good chat. He’s a nice guy and I’ve always gotten on well with him, having played against him a few times," he added.