BANG OUT OF ORDER
Buttler fury at ‘Mankad’ dismissal
JOS BUTTLER reacted furiously after being controversially run out at the non-striker’s end by Ravichandran Ashwin in the IPL yesterday. Non-striker Buttler, on 69 as Rajasthan Royals looked to chase down the 185 set by Kings XI Punjab, left his crease backing up as Ashwin walked in to bowl. The Indian all-rounder, without giving the customary warning to his opponent, pulled out of his delivery stride and did a ‘Mankad’ on Buttler as Kings XI went on to win by 14 runs. A ‘Mankad’ — named after ex-India all-rounder Vinoo Mankad, who ran out Australian batsman Bill Brown in this manner in 1947 — is legal in cricket but is considered to be against the spirit of the game. Ashwin defended his actions,
saying: ‘It was pretty instinctive. I actually didn’t even load. He left the crease, that’s it. That’s always been my take on it because that’s my half of the crease.’ But Jofra Archer, Buttler’s teammate at Rajasthan, tweeted: ‘You show no confidence in yourself or your bowlers to get the job done so you resort to that?’ England white-ball captain Eoin Morgan said: ‘I can’t believe what I’m seeing!! Terrible example to set for young kids. In time I think Ashwin will regret that.’ It is not the first time Buttler has been dismissed in this way. Sri Lanka’s Sachithra Senanayake did the same to him during an ODI in 2014, but he had received a warning from the bowler that time.