The cricket world seems to be divided into two groups: Those who agree with the bowlers punishing a non-striker for backing up too far before the delivery has been bowled by running them out and those who think this is against the so called ‘ Spirit of The Game’. That the International Cricket Council (ICC) has officially put this sort of dismissal under ‘run out’ now doesn’t seem to change the minds of those who continue to voice their opposition.
The feeble argument doesn’t cut deep though. A non-striker gaining ‘unfair advantage’ by venturing out too far of the crease can be equally blamed to have been acting against the ‘Spirit of The Game’ as well. The polarised opinion though haven’t stopped.
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India allrounder Deepti Sharma effected that dismissal against England which stirred quite a storm – unnecessary though. And such has been its implications that when captains of teams taking part in the ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia were asked about their views on the dismissal, it led to an awkward silence.
Former India allrounder and men’s team head coach Ravi Shastri has no such hesitation and is clearly in favour of this type of run-out.
“My thoughts are very clear. It’s a law,” Shastri told Fox Sports during an interview. “A batsman has no business to be wandering out of his crease before the ball is bowled. And the law in cricket says that if you are doing that, the bowler is perfectly entitled to take the bails off.”
He continued, “I know that the rule of ‘Mankad’ or ‘Mankading’ was there was a long time and a lot of players are still trying to come to terms with that new law, whether they should be taking off the bails but as a coach, I would tell my players ‘Just go out and do it. It’s a law. You’re not cheating, you’re not doing anything that is not part of the game. Batsman should know his business.”
In Shastri’s words, batter going out of the crease much before the ball has been delivered amounts to ‘cheating’.
“There is an outrage but it’s because that law did not exist earlier. But my argument is that even if it had existed, I don’t believe this practice when you warn the player the first time and the second time you can do it. It’s like me telling a fielder, ‘You’ve dropped me once. Second time you can catch it’. If it’s a law that says it is cheating. It is cheating because if you’re going out of crease, you are trying to steal an advantage over the opposition and the bowler. So you jolly well, hold your ground,” Shastri said.
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