IPL 2019: Trent Boult calls Ravi Ashwin's Mankad act against the spirit of the game

Delhi Capitals pacer Trent Boult has said Ravi Ashwin Mankading Jos Buttler was not in the spirit of the game. The Kings XI Punjab skipper caused a huge furore in the cricketing world by running out Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler in a controversial manner on Monday. While Mankad is not against the rules books of the game, it is widely seen as against the Spirit of the Game. Buttler was batting on 69 while his team was on 108 for 1 in the 13th over in pursuit of 185 when Ashwin decided to make the batsman pay for leaving the crease early.

The India off-spinner had paused for a while in his delivery stride and had watched Buttler before noticing that the latter left the crease. And before Buttler could get back safely inside the crease, Ashwin dislodged the bails. The Royals star was then seen arguing with Ashwin but had to soon leave the scene after the third umpire adjudged him out. Royals soon collapsed to lose the game by 14 runs.

The incident has sparked outrage on social media and has divided the cricket world into two halves. While one half thinks that Ashwin was within his rights to dismiss the batsman, the other has slammed if for going against the spirit of the game. And now Boult has joined the discussion too. The New Zealand pace spearhead did not directly criticise Ashwin but made it more or less clear he is against Mankad.

“It is pretty interesting to see it happen. I think the IPL tournament itself is very exciting, amazing cricket is being played. I think we should just let the cricket play in the right spirit, I do not really see too much need for anyone to be doing that,” Boult told reporters on Thursday.

MCC u-turn on Ashwin

MCC, the guardians of the Laws of Cricket have now taken a u-turn on their stance on the matter. At first, they had stated that Ashwin was well within his rights to dismiss Buttler. However, on Thursday, they contradicted themselves by saying that his brief pause before bowling was not in the spirit of the game.

“Having extensively reviewed the incident again and after further reflection we don’t think it was within the spirit of the game,” MCC’s Law Manager Fraser Stewart told the Daily Telegraph.

“We believe the pause was too long between the time Ashwin reached the crease and the moment it was reasonable to expect the ball would be delivered. When Buttler could have reasonably expected the ball to be delivered, he was in his ground,” he added.

Ashwin, meanwhile, has said that his act was merely instinctive and not intentional.

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