Ashwin Will Lose Respect After ‘Mankading’ Incident: Sandeep Patil

In any walk of life or profession, nobody wants to lose. Jos Buttler getting mankaded by Kings XI Punjab skipper R Ashwin was the turning point that resulted in Rajasthan Royals losing to the Punjab outfit.

Cricket is a gentlemen’s game, or should I say in modern day that “it used to be gentlemen’s game”. I had the highest regards for R Ashwin.

Former number one bowler in Test cricket, with over 300 wickets, and a role model for so many youngsters, Ashwin might have won the game for Kings XI Punjab on Monday night with the decision of mankading Jos Buttler, but he surely lost the respect and reputation of many.

The game of cricket has its own set of rules and Ashwin was well within his rights to dismiss Jos Buttler the way he did. Mind you, this was not the first time that we saw a batsman getting out in this fashion.

In the 1987 World Cup, Courtney Walsh could have easily dismissed Abdul Qadir the “Mankad” way. He saw Qadir leaving the crease, he stopped near the stumps and instead of removing the bails, he folded his hand and smiled. When Abdul Qadir realised his mistake, he came back to the crease.

All this happened in a World cup game. West Indies had the chance to win that game only if Courtney Walsh had removed the bail. But being a thorough gentleman that he is, he gave warning to Abdul Qadir and went back to his run up. If Walsh would have taken off the bail, West Indies might have won the match.

But in the end, despite losing the game, Walsh emerged as a hero. This whole incident proves that you can play the game the hard way and continue to be a gentleman at the same time.

I think Ashwin should have warned Jos Buttler and if he had left the crease again then it would have been right to ‘mankad’ Butler. You cannot call this as controversy but people will surely remember the whole incident and would always doubt Ashwin’s intention.

The regards I had for Ashwin for all these years I believe doesn’t exist anymore.

As far as Jos Buttler is concerned it was wrong of him also to question and argue with Ashwin and the umpire. Buttler knew that the mistake was on his part and the whole argument and loss of temper made no sense.

Players do tend to get worked up during a match as we have seen when Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth. We did witness heated argument between Kohli and Gambhir. Starc and Pollard also had a go at each other. And Monday night’s incident will only add to it.

This is certainly not way you want to win the game. A great bowler like Ashwin has the skill and variation to roughen up the greatest of batsmen. But on Monday against the Rajasthan Royals he certainly choose wrong way.

After this, I don’t know what Ashwin will do to regain his reputation which he carried in the cricketing world. You may be end up being the highest wicket taker but a mistake like this will always remain as a black spot.

The term ‘Mankading’ is named after one of India’s cricketing legend Vinoo Mankad, though the Aussie media should be blamed for demeaning the name of Mankad Sahib. I suggest that ICC should rename this word as it will keep coming up again and again in the future as well.