Kings XI Punjab skipper Ravichandran Ashwin was yet again the trending topic of twitter town, this time though, it was for all the good reasons.
In a close encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the Indian spinner ensured his side restricted the visitors to a below par 150.
In his four overs, Ashwin had figures of 1/30 but it was his run out in the 14th over that called for a twitterati party.
With just six overs remaining and the Punjab bowlers firing on all cylinders, David Warner smashed a short ball from Ashwin down the pitch, only to be stopped by the latter with his right hand. Realising that Mohammed Nabi was way out of his crease at the non-striker’s end, the 32-year old then deflected the ball onto the stumps and sent the Afghan all-rounder back to the pavilion for 12.
This set social media on fire with fans and cricket pundits going berserk.
The game went on to the last over as KL Rahul guided the 2014 season runners up to a thrilling 6 wicket win with just one ball remaining.
This is not the first time that the Tamil Nadu based cricketer has been involved in a quick witted run out incident at the non-striker’s end. During their first game, Ashwin had ‘Mankaded’ Jos Butler, ultimately turning the game in his side’s favour. Back then the Punjab captain had faced some serious criticism causing a divide within the cricketing fraternity about his actions.
Not new to practicing the infamous Mankad, Ashwin has in the past used similar tactics wearing Indian colors as well. The reason behind the big debate this time was that he was featuring for an IPL franchise against an IPL franchise. An argument in the bowler’s favour that was put forward by some experts was that if a batsman has left the crease before a ball being bowled and he safely makes it to the other end in a run out incident, he has an additional advantage.
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