Ravichandaran Ashwin had no regrets but the cricket fraternity stood divided after the seasoned Indian off-spinner's 'Mankading' of Jos Buttler in the IPL Tuesday triggered a heated debate on the spirit of the game.
In a first in 12 editions of the IPL, Kings XI Punjab skipper Ashwin ran out rampaging Rajasthan Royals batsman Buttler, who was at the non-strikers' end, on his delivery stride, an act popularly known as 'Mankading' -- after the legendary Vinoo Mankad, who first did it in 1947 against Australia.
The mode of dismissal is permissible as per ICC Rule 41.16 of playing conditions, according to which even a warning to the batsman is not needed anymore. What remains unresolved is whether such a dismissal is in the right spirit.
TV replays showed that Ashwin had waited for Buttler to move out of the crease before removing the bails, leading to a storm in which Ashwin's integrity was questioned by the likes of RR brand ambassador Shane Warne, who called his act disgraceful.
A livid Buttler had a heated exchange with Ashwin before leaving the field.
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The Indian found some backers too, prominent ones being Warne's fellow Australians Dean Jones and Mitchell Johnson. The two former cricketers found nothing wrong in what the senior bowler did.
The man at the centre of it all was unapologetic and insisted that what he did in the 13th over of the Monday night match, which Kings XI Punjab won by 14 runs, was instinctive.
"It wasn't planned or anything like that. It's there within the rules of the game. I don't know from where the understanding of the spirit of the game comes," Ashwin said at the post-match press conference.
"Naturally if it's there in the rules, it's there. Probably, we need to go back to the rules," India's premier Test spinner added.
By the time he made this statement, Warne had taken to social media and in a series of tweets, lambasted the Tamil Nadu bowler.
"RA had no intention of delivering the ball - so it should have been called a dead ball. Over to u BCCI - this a not a good look for the #IPL," Warne wrote on his twitter handle.
"Ashwin's actions were simply disgraceful, and I hope the BCCI doesn't condone this sort of behaviour in the #IPL ! #spiritofthegame," he added.
In between, RR coach Paddy Upton too laid into Ashwin at the post-match press conference.
"I think R Ashwin's action tonight speak for him and represent him when I looked up to the eyes of his teammates," a livid Upton said at the end of the match.
When asked whether the assumption that he did not intend to deliver the ball was correct, the bowler retorted, "I didn't even load and he left the crease. It's always been my take on the crease, because it's my half of the crease."
The Indian Cricket Board kept its distance from the raging furore with a senior official insisting that the BCCI had no plans of taking it up with Ashwin, as was demanded by Warne in his tweets.
"There is no question of lecturing Ashwin on spirit of the game. He did what is permissible within the rules of the game. The umpires and match referees are there to ensure that players compete as per laws of the game," the official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
However, IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla did wade into the matter and recalled attending a meeting of the league's captains and match referees in which it was decided that 'Mankading' would not be done in the event.
"If I remember in one of the meetings of captains & match referee where I was also present as chairman it had been decided that if non striking batsman steps out bowler as a courtesy will not run him out @IPL @BCCI," he tweeted.
"Most probably this meeting was in Kolkata on the eve of one of the editions of ipl where Dhoni & Virat both were present @BCCI @IPL," he added without specifying the exact edition before which this decision was made," he added.
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