Ollie Robinson should and will play against India: Michael Vaughan
The controversy surrounding Ollie Robinson has initiated a massive debate in the cricket fraternity. Robinson made his debut for England in the purest format of the game during the first Test match against New Zealand. The 27-year-old drew the attention of the entire cricket fraternity with his impressive performance with the ball.
Robinson picked four wickets in the first innings followed by a three-wicket haul in the third innings. However, just a couple of hours after making his debut, the right-arm speedster found himself in trouble. A few racist tweets made by Ollie when he was just 18 years old resurfaced on social media.
The tweets caused havoc in the cricket fraternity as Robinson passed some mean and racist comments on Asians, Muslims, and Women. The pacer was subjected to a lot of flak on social media for the same. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) also took note of the tweets made in 2012 and took a tough call.
As a punishment, ECB suspended Robinson from all formats of international cricket. The 27-year-old was told to leave for home without participating in the second Test match against the Blackcaps despite a stellar performance. The action taken by ECB drew mixed reactions.
Michael Vaughan backs Ollie Robinson
I think the ECB have dealt with the Ollie Robinson situation in a fair way .. many will disagree .. but hearing some say he should never play again is utterly ridiculous .. he will play against India & should ?
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) June 8, 2021
While many backed the cricket body, there was a section of fans who slammed the England board for going too harsh on the speedster. Many believe that a person can’t be punished for decade-old tweets that he made as a teenager. Meanwhile, former England skipper Michael Vaughan also jumped into the debate as he took to his official Twitter handle to give his point of view.
Vaughan believes that ECB was totally fair in its approach to dealing with Ollie Robinson’s case. However, the veteran believes that Ollie doesn’t deserve a permanent suspension from the international circuit. Vaughan backed Robinson to make a comeback to the England squad during the five-match Test series against India, scheduled to start from August 4.