In a few short months, us South African cricket fans will chew our fingernails to bits watching the Proteas battle for the World Cup over in England.

The IPL provides some nerveless respite, where you can watch the world’s premier T20 cricketers smash the ball around without all of the worry that will soon follow.

Yesterday’s action stoked huge controversy, though, as Indian spinner and Kings XI captain Ravi Ashwin decided to run out Rajasthan Royals opener Jos Buttler.

The Englishman was well set, and looked to be leading his team to victory in the season opener, with his run out starting a collapse of eight wickets for 62 runs en route to a Royals defeat.

It was another example of the always contentious ‘Mankad’, where the bowler runs out the non-striker for backing up too far.

When the batsman is clearly seeking an advantage by leaving the crease early, it’s hard to be that upset, but Buttler’s dismissal isn’t quite as clear-cut.

Here’s a quick summary of how it all played out. Footage is scarce, with the IPL removing many videos, but you can still see the incident and Buttler’s angry reaction:

If that video is yanked, here’s another:

The pivotal moment can be seen below:

pic.twitter.com/bTLrSNmsiS

— Naeem Malik (@NaeemMa90890610) March 25, 2019

First of all, many point to the spirit of the game, whereby a bowler might be expected to warn a batsman before running him out in such a manner.

I’m on board with that, but even you put the whole ‘spirit’ thing aside, the laws on what constitutes a fair ‘Mankad’ are clear. Over to the Telegraph:

The law was changed last year to state the batsman has to be out of his crease at the moment the bowler would be “expected to release the ball.” Buttler looked to be in his crease when Ashwin paused briefly at the point of delivery before knocking off the bails.

There’s an image doing the rounds that certainly bolsters Buttler’s argument, with the gist here from NewsAU:

The photo has superimposed an old image of Ashwin bowling for India in blue over the top of him bowling for Kings XI Punjab in red. It’s designed to show that when Ashwin’s front foot landed last night, he would normally be in his delivery stride preparing to let go of the ball.

Buttler is still in his crease at that point and because he would reasonably expect Ashwin to have delivered the ball, under the laws of the game, he should be safe. However, Ashwin didn’t let go of the ball as expected and baulked after planting his front foot, sparking the controversy.

Even without the superimposed image of Ashwin bowling for India, Buttler is still inside the crease at this point below, by which point any bowler would usually have released the ball:

The rule is there to prevent the non-striker from gaining a clear advantage, and in this case, he really isn’t.

Buttler’s teammate and fellow Pom Jofra Archer isn’t mincing his words:

“You show no confidence in yourself or your bowlers to get the job done so you resort to that.”

We know that the Royals’ coach, South African Paddy Upton, was certainly unimpressed:

“I think R Ashwin’s actions tonight speak for him and represent him. When I looked in the eyes of his team-mates I’m not sure if it represented them and we will leave it up to the IPL fans to decide if that is what they want to see. We will leave it up to the cricket world to judge Ashwin’s actions,” said Upton.

Footage from the post-match handshake shows that Buttler hardly made eye contact with Ashwin, whilst Upton had something to say that clearly irked the Kings XI captain:

After Match @josbuttler didn’t Respond @ashwinravi99 #RRvKXIP #Rashwin #Ashwin #RR #KXIP #josbuttler #Mankad #Mankaded #sport #cricket #HallaBol #AshwinMankads #AshwinShameful #ashwinravi99 #josbuttlerrunout #runout #Mankads pic.twitter.com/3Weq1vRJDS

— Akhil borana (@AkhilBorana) March 25, 2019

Ashwin remains unrepentant, backing himself during his post-match interview as skipper:

“Look, it was very instinctive,” he said. “On my part, it was very instinctive. It was not planned or anything like that. It’s there within the rules of the game. I don’t understand where the spirit of the game comes, naturally if it’s there in the rules it’s there.

“I don’t understand the point of sporting or sportive in that point because it’s rules. What applies for one man does not apply for everyone else. Neither was Jos Buttler playing there nor was I played so it’s very pertinent to just not compare two people.”

Sorry, not buying it. There’s no way he changes his mind mid-delivery there, and he even seems to wait for Buttler to wander out the crease.

Buttler has been dismissed in this manner once before, after two warnings by Sachithra Senanayake while playing against Sri Lanka in 2014, but yesterday he wasn’t taking liberties.

Some former and current players came to Ashwin’s defence, whilst others were less forgiving:

Not sure Warney has a leg to stand on, given that he was found guilty of giving bookies inside information ahead of matches and was booted from the 2003 World Cup for taking banned substances, but the point stands.

If Faf du Plessis resorted to these measures in the World Cup, even in a crunch situation, I would still be disgusted.

In all of this, let’s not lose sight of the most important thing – David Warner and Steve Smith are back, so ready yourself to fling objects at the TV.

[sources:telegraph&newsau]