'He can Mankad as well' - Scott Styris advises Chris Gayle to not use word 'Mankad' while speaking about Ravi Ashwin

Rajasthan Royals started their IPL 2023 campaign on a high note as they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by a massive margin of 72 runs in their opening encounter at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. After being put in to bat first, Rajasthan posted a massive total of 203/5 and later successfully defended it courtesy of some top-notch bowling by Trent Boult and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Ravi Ashwin also picked up the prized scalp of Glenn Phillips giving away 27 runs in four overs. Apart from that, he even stopped in his delivery stride once during the game giving the impression of inflicting the non-striker’s run out, however, he didn’t attempt the dismissal.

Ahead of Rajasthan Royals’ second game against Punjab Kings on Wednesday, April 5, former West Indies cricketer, Chris Gayle spoke about Ashwin’s skill as a bowler and also mentioned that he can even ‘Mankad’

“Ashwin has had a lot of success against the top-order. He's very experienced, he can bowl the carrom ball. It's not like he can only bowl the off-spin. He has very good variations, he is a very tricky bowler. He can Mankad as well. So, you have to be careful! You got to take all these things into perspective when you're facing someone like Ashwin,” Gayle said on JioCinema.

Reacting to Gayle’s comment, former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris advised him to not use the controversial term. “You can't use that word over here!” the former cricketer said sheepishly.

The other cricketers in the expert panel namely Anil Kumble and AB de Villiers agreed with Styris and collectively said, “It's a run out!”

The non-striker’s run-out is commonly known as ‘Mankad’ named after the former India cricketer Vinoo Mankad, who attempted such a dismissal for the first time in international cricket dismissing Australia’s Bill Brown in such a fashion. While the controversy around the dismissal remains, Marylebone Cricket Club called it absolutely fair (MCC) and included the dismissal in the ‘Run out’ section in the rulebook in 2022.

Ashwin warns Shikhar Dhawan during Match 8 of IPL

Ashwin has been quite vocal about the batters taking an unfair advantage by getting out of their crease when a bowler is in his delivery stride. He has even attempted the dismissal once to run out Jos Buttler during IPL 2019 and has been a staunch supporter of it ever since.

Notably, the senior spinner was once again seen warning Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan during their second match as he stopped in his delivery stride.