"Why are people comparing a ball deflecting of my bat to a Mankad?": Ben Stokes baffled on comparisons with Deepti-Dean saga

The Deepti Sharma-Charlotte Dean saga has taken the cricketing world by storm, with several notable cricketing personalities participating in the debate on social media. England's red-ball skipper Ben Stokes has somehow found himself in the middle of the debate. The English all-rounder expressed his surprise at his bewildering involvement with a social media post on Monday, September 26.

Harmanpreet Kaur's Indian team completed a historic series victory amid Jhulan Goswami's swansong at the iconic Lord's Cricket Ground, defeating England in the final ODI of the three-match series on Saturday, September 24. England's fate was sealed after Dean's dismissal, which has sparked a seemingly unending debate, regarding the spirit of the game, on social media.

Although the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) clarified that Deepti Sharma's actions were well within the laws of the game. Several cricketers and experts have expressed their dismay at the controversial run-out.

The Indian fans retaliated and pointed out Ben Stokes' deflected boundary in the 2019 World Cup final against New Zealand at the same venue, which turned out to be one of the decisive moments in the dramatic game. 

Stokes took to Twitter, asking fans the reason behind the comparison between the ball deflecting from his bat in the World Cup final and Deepti Sharma's run-out. His tweet contained a GIF, and read, "Why are people comparing a ball deflecting of my bat to a Mankad?"

Why are people comparing a ball deflecting of my bat to a mankad? pic.twitter.com/LeYEK601mP

— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) September 26, 2022

Earlier, Deepti Sharma revealed that the team had planned the dismissal since Dean was wandering out of the crease repeatedly. She also revealed that Dean was warned several times before she (Deepti) eventually decided to whip the bails off.

"It was our plan because she was doing it repeatedly. We had also warned her. So, according to the guidelines of the rules we did it. Yes, yes definitely we did say because we told the umpires.

But still she was there so we couldn't do anything. Every team wants to win and we wanted to win and give her (Jhulan Goswami) a good farewell. So going by that, as a team we did what we could, we put that effort in," Deepti commented on the incident.