IPL 2019: Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins Voices Their Opinion on Mankading

Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins were disappointed with the way Jos Buttler was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin in the 4^th match of IPL 12 between the Kings XI Punjab and the Rajasthan Royals. Josh Hazlewood felt that that is particular mode of dismissal should be scraped from cricket’s law book unless and until a batsman takes unfair advantage of the crease.

Hazlewood is currently recovering from a back injury which has forced him to remain in the sidelines since January. The fast bowler feels that it is an unfair way for a bowler to dismiss opponent batters. He further added that the law should be done with and should only come into play when a batsman blatantly tries to leave the crease in the bowler’s delivery stride.

Josh Hazlewood was of the opinion that Jos Buttler didn’t leave the crease early and it was Ashwin who had actually stopped to allow Buttler to leave the crease. He feels that the laws of ‘Mankading’ need to be revised by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“I’m not happy with it at all,” Hazlewood said of Buttler’s dismissal that proved a turning point in Rajasthan’s ultimately unsuccessful run chase.I don’t think it should be in the game, to be honest. Maybe if the batters really start to take advantage, then the umpire needs to step in.

But I don’t think you should be able to get a batsman out that way, and even in this instance, Jos Buttler was hardly out of his crease. He wasn’t jogging with the bowler, he wasn’t running – he was pretty stationary to be honest,” Hazlewood was quoted as saying by the Unplayable Podcast.

Even Pat Cummins spoke in favour of Jos Buttler and stated that at least a warning should be given to the batsmen before dismissing him in this form. He also felt that Jos Buttler wasn’t trying to take any undue advantage.

Ever since Ashwin dismissed Buttler in that fashion, criticism has flown in from every quarter. However, Ashwin had done this back in 2012 also. Back then it was Sachin Tendulkar who had asked the then skipper Virender Sehwag to withdraw the appeal. However, Ashwin was himself the skipper of Kings XI Punjab yesterday and I personally feel it was a disgraceful act especially given the fact that Ashwin is a world-class bowler and a good leader.

 

“It didn’t really sit well with me, to be honest,” said Cummins, who watched the game unfold live. If a batsman is trying to steal a run you can kind of understand but I didn’t think Jos was doing anything untoward there.

“I thought it was a pretty bad look, to be honest. I spoke to a couple of the boys and they all sort of said the same, that it didn’t really sit well with them.

“When you’re talking millimetres and you’re looking the other way … you could probably almost argue than when he was going to release the ball he would have been in his crease.

The rule is there. But I thought in that instance it was a real stretch of the rule to try and get a wicket I wouldn’t want to win a game like that. “

The term ‘Mankading’ came into the reckoning when Indian Vinoo Mankad had run out Bill Brown in a similar way during a Test match in 1947. However, Vinood Mankad had warned Bill Brown before actually getting him out at the non-striker’s end. The action of Vinoo Mankad didn’t go down well with the Australian media and they came at him hard.

However, Sir Donald Bradman in his autobiography defended Vinoo Mankad for his actions and stated that whatever is there in the law of the game cannot be against the spirit of the game. He said that there shouldn’t be any controversy surrounding this since dismissal of this kind exists in the game.