Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve heard about ‘the Mankad’ or about ‘Mankading’ in the headlines these days. So what is this – apart from being the Gujarati word for bed bugs and the name of a famous bowler of yore? Well, Vinoo Mankad ran out Bill Brown in Australia way back in 1947/48 series just as the batsman was edging out of his crease to take a run. Thus ‘Mankading’ came into being.
The nonstriker steps out in anticipation of taking a run and the bowler runs him out. This is perfectly legit way to get a batsman out in cricket.
Most videos of the actual video have been disabled on Twitter because of copyright issues. So here is a somewhat accurate representation of what happened in the Kings XI Punjab versus Rajasthan Royals match when Ravichandran Ashwin mankaded Jos Buttler.
Ashwin did what he did without first issuing a warning (the rules do not require him to issue a warning). There was an on-field argument and the umpire asked for a referral of the decision. Buttler was clearly annoyed as he walked back from the crease.
Though what he did was perfectly legal, Ashwin has been accused by many as going against the spirit of the game.
According to some experts, this was the first time that we saw the Mankad at the IPL.
While a lot of Indian fans were upset with Ashwin, other fans asked whether they would have been just as upset with Ashwin if he had done this while playing for the Indian side instead of an IPL side.
Those who harp on the ‘spirit of cricket’ and on it being a ‘gentleman’s game’ ought to realise that, that ship sailed a long time ago.
Now it’s all about winning. Where earlier the batsman would walk if he nicked the ball, now he will stay put in his crease to see if he gets the benefit of the doubt. You just have to look at the amount of sledging in today's game to know that cricket is no longer that quaint thing – a gentleman's game.
Maybe it would have been nice of Ashwin to have warned Buttler once and then run him out if he did it again. But then, there is no legal requirement for the bowler to issue such a warning.
Some were upset that Ashwin stooped to conquer in a sense. They felt he should have been better than that.
M S Dhoni was warned by Krunal Pandya. Pandya kept the ball in his hand and issued a warning however, Dhoni had been in his crease all the time. The fact is that Buttler was not in his crease and Ashwin took advantage of this fair and square – nothing more, nothing less.
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