Batsmen ruled out

It is strange that what happened so many years ago is still relevant to a game that had perforce to transform itself under the pressure of those who had never quite liked the game

R Ashwin is out of luck. Had he been the first to do what he did — Mankading a batsman, which is running him out at the non-striker’s end if he (the batsman) goes beyond the popping-crease — the matter would have died down as a peccadillo. In the age of instant cricket, quite an oxymoron, one looks askance at ethical niceties. But Ashwin’s supposed moral infraction (the rules defend his action, though) is getting prominence because more than 70 years ago, our own Vinoo Mankad, considered one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, had done the same thing