Ajinkya Rahane refuses to comment as Ravi Ashwin takes a step back in terms of 'Spirit of Cricket'

Among many things considered well within the Laws of Cricket and yet believed to be demeaning to the spirit of the sport is ‘Mankading’ and it was carried out for the first time in T20 history on Monday, March 25. Kings XI Punjab captain Ravi Ashwin clearly schemed a runout for the non-striker batsman Jos Buttler, of RR, and dismissed him when he got the chance. RR captain Ajinkya Rahane, however, has not taken a stand on this ‘controversial issue’.

Back in July 2014, when Sri Lanka was touring England for a five-match ODI series, Sachithra Senanayake had caught Buttler in the scene and ‘mankaded’ him. But the scenario was different. It was the fifth and final ODI, also the decider, that was being played at Edgbaston. In fact, before carrying out the dismissal, Senanayake gave Buttler two warnings in the 42nd over before removing the bails in the 44th. Later on, Buttler had admitted that it was his fault.

The English wicketkeeper was quoted saying: “It is obviously batsman error. If you walk out of your ground and someone wants to do it, it is in the laws of the game. It is all part of the game. I was disappointed at the time because it doesn’t happen very often. I thought you could do that every ball if you wanted and there would be a chance to run someone out. But the bowler would say why don’t you just stay in your crease? So I guess I did learn something from it.” But this time around the non-striker Jos Buttler, playing for the Rajasthan Royals, was clearly unhappy about the nature of the dismissal.

Rahane’s neutral take on the Mankading controversy

The reason being the stark difference in the two incidents. After closely watching the replay of the wicket, we can see how Ravi Ashwin schemed Buttler’s wicket and waited slyly for the right moment to take the bails off. All of it was done after Ashwin was almost done with his run-up. In 2017, MCC stated its rule that the batsman is to be blamed when a mankading incident happens.

And so Buttler, who scored a splendid 43-ball 69 in today’s encounter against the Kings XI Punjab, was given ‘OUT’ by the third umpire after the bowler appealed. The reception of Ashwin’s act wasn’t good at all and is being considered distasteful by many, but it being well within the laws of the game closes the case altogether.

Buttler was evidently frustrated and there was a steep fall for the Royals after the drama that was built, that eventually made them lose the match to Punjab. When asked about his opinion on the Mankading controversy, RR captain Rahane decided to remain neutral and said – “We are not supposed to comment on a controversial issue. The match referee will take the call. We will take the decision sportively.” 

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