Ravi Ashwin's act of mankading not acceptable, says senior BCCI official

Veteran leg-spinner Ravi Ashwin’s act of ‘Mankading’ in an IPL match on March 25 has been put under tremendous scrutiny as fans and the entire cricketing fraternity is divided between two opinions. One party says that the bowler is well within the rules to carry out such an act and is further safeguarded by the MCC’s rulebook.

The Kings XI Punjab skipper himself called his decision to ‘Mankad’ the Rajasthan Royals batsman Jos Buttler in Jaipur on Monday as instinctive. The 32-year-old off-spinner believes that he was well within the rights to do so and he only took the bails off because the batsman at the non-striker’s end had left the crease before he could release the ball.

The Royals weren’t impressed, with skipper Ajinkya Rahane, head coach Paddy Upton staying neutral. However, the Royals’ brand ambassador Shane Warne made his disapproval pretty evident. The batsman in question was star English wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, who showed immense displeasure as soon as he realized he was mankaded by the opposition captain.

Match officials have failed in their duty, says BCCI official

Needless to say that the matter spread like wildfire and sparked strong opinions on the upholding of this act. A senior official of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has voiced his opinion that Ashwin being the captain of Punjab should have maintained protocol. He further accused the match officials with failure in their duty. The official is of the opinion that only cricketing skills should be used on the field to dismiss batsmen.

As quoted by the Sportstar, the official said: “The match officials have failed in their duty with the handling of this issue. Buttler ought to have been adjudged not out if the laws were applied squarely to the situation. Ashwin also must understand that laws and the spirit of the game both have to be kept in mind. 

A player is supposed to deceive the other with his cricketing skills and not with shady skills. If the batsman is taking advantage, deal with it in the right way – as a gentleman. Competitiveness is all very well but a standard of decorum ought to be maintained.”

[interaction id=”5c992236f511671d359f6271″]

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.