Kings XI Punjab skipper Ravichandran Ashwin sparked a huge controversy on Monday, 25 March, by 'mankading' Rajasthan Royals' Jos Buttler in the 13th over of the IPL match, making it the first-ever such incident in the history of IPL.
As many criticised the move by the cricketer, Ashwin defended himself, saying that his action was "instinctive".
Post the match, Ashwin said:
“I didn’t even load and he just left the crease. We ended on the right side of the coin, but I definitely think that those are game-changing moments and batsmen need to be wary of it.”
While the debate goes on, interestingly, this is not the first time Ashwin has found himself in this spot.
In 2012, Ashwin had dismissed Sir Lanka's non-striker Lahiru Thirimanne during a Commonwealth Bank Series match the same way.
In the 40th over of the match, Ashwin had ‘mankaded' Thirimanne, after which the umpire had asked the then Indian captain Virender Sehwag whether he would reconsider the appeal.
Sehwag had subsequently withdrawn the appeal, explaining that if they would appeal and the umpire gave Thirimanne out, there would be criticism and that was “not the spirit of the game”, as per ESPN cricinfo.
Sehwag had also said that Ashwin had warned the non-striker before running him out.
After Monday's 'mankading' Buttler, Rajasthan Royals' ambassador Shane Warne and coach Paddy Upton were among many who lashed out the Kings XI Punjab’s skipper.
(With inputs from ESPN Cricinfo and PTI)
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