Watch: When West Indian legend Viv Richards refused to run out a Pakistani batsman

Cricket is often referred to as a gentleman's game because of the healthy sportman spirit it highlights

A couple of days ago, former Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesperson Danyal Gilani took to Twitter to post a video from back in the day showing this sportsman spirit displayed by West Indies player Viv Richards.

The video is from a Pakistan vs West Indies match. In it, Richard bowls to a Pakistani batsman, who attempts to drive the ball. But it ricochets off the runner and goes straight into Richards' hands.

The only problem was, the ball ended up in Richards' hands when the runner was halfway through the pitch and clearly short of his crease. The West Indian could have easily ran him out.

To everyone's shock and surprise, Richards walked away with the ball without dislodging the bails and signalled to the batsman to reclaim his position within the crease. The West Indian legend felt he didn't earn the run-out and hence, gave the batsman a new life.

Many people on social media said it was Pakistani batsman Javed Miandad. However, due to the poor quality of the video, it can't be ascertained whether it was Miandad or not.

The crowd can be heard immediately giving a huge round of applause to the West Indian cricketer over his generous act.

A towering cricketer during his era, Richards was a very lethal batsman who could single-handedly turn the game around by ripping bowling attacks to shreds.

The West Indian icon scored 24 centuries from the 121 Test matches he played at an impressive average of 50.23, scoring 8,540 runs in total.

He is considered by many as the greatest batsman ever to grace the game.