Ashwin mankaded Buttler - Ethical or debased

The Indian cricket festival, Indian Premier League has successfully entered into 12th season this year and in the first few days only we are witnessing many new records being already made, Rishabh Pant going hammer and tongs over Mumbai Indians in first 2019 IPL match playing for Delhi Capitals, Chris Gayle being back in form playing for KXIP, Chennai Super Kings continuing to sail the victorious boat and many more.

IPL is not just a cricketing series to many. It is like a long festivity which keeps people engrossed for almost over a month and you will come across a lots of madness in the coming time. The tough competition between world class cricket players makes it more appealing and interesting to watch.

However this season of IPL has witnessed something which has never happened before in its history. There has been much hullabaloo over Ravichandran Ashwin (Captain of KXIP) mankading Jos Buttler (hitman from Rajasthan Royals). Mankading is a term used in cricket named after Indian cricketer Vinu Mankand where the bowler whips off the bails at non striker end instead of completing the delivery and hence making the non-striker batsman off the field if he is out of his crease. In 4^th league match of IPL 2019 KXIP batted first and hanged a good defending score of 184/4 against Rajasthan Royals at Sawai Mansingh stadium. Rajasthan Royals, having advantage of playing at home ground, in response started the inning with Ajinkya Rahane and Jos Buttler. Jos Buttler took the lead after Ajinkya Rahane departed quickly and scored very quick 69 runs of 43 deliveries before he was mankaded by R. Ashwin. After depart of Buttler, Rajasthan Royals succumbed to pressure and rest of the batsman could not hold the nerve to chase the win. R. Ashwin is being censured and much talked about against his sportsman spirit on all social media platforms as he mankaded Buttler at a very crucial moment of the game, the biggest question is why such castigation is at uproar against him? Would have Ashwin been chided the same ways had Rajasthan Royals won the game even after Buttler’s dismissal or there is something that Rajasthan Royals wants to put blame of their defeat on Ashwin being unethically mankading a man in form? Cricket is the game of chances and one moment can redefine the results. Shane Warne, the retired legendary leg spinner from Cricket Australia and currently brand ambassador for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2019 slammed Ashwin with number of his tweets, suggested him to have played in the spirit of the game and held him responsible for the defeat of Rajasthan Royals.

Now question is whether actually Ashwin did something against the cricket values? Doing so, did he play unfair against the spirits of the game? Whether Ashwin deserves such thumping which he is now facing?

One thing pertinent to note here is that mankading is allowed as per rule book of cricket. Hence apparently Ashwin did nothing against the rules of the game. There is no explanation anywhere on whether bowler should give prior warnings to non-striker batsman before taking such a step. Ashwin claims this event to be instinctive and doesn’t find himself guilty of any ethical misconduct. Rightly so, it is at the opinion of a particular bowler if he wants to give the batsman warning/s or not. Ashwin chose not to give warnings to Buttler, of course in the interest of his team as a captain. If he chooses not to, even than he can’t be bad mouthed for sure for his act of mankading. But if a bowler has to face the heat even after following the cricket rule book, then why mankading is allowed? Don’t you think, if mankading rule is stroke out, there are fair chances of batsmen shortening and hence misusing the pitch length for their benefit? However twitter lobby came in defense of Ashwin by throbbing back at Shane Warne as he has also been banned for a year from cricket on account of malpractices. However, this denunciation should stop and everybody should enjoy watching the biggest Indian sports festival.