Indian veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin revealed an interesting conversation involving the Indian head coach Rahul Dravid and the bartenders over the controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow in the second test of the high-octane Ashes series. The Men in Blue is currently in action against the West Indies, where the team is comfortably at the end of the Day 1 play.
The Tamil Nadu all-rounder is the centre of attraction when it comes to the spirit of cricket in recent times over his stand on the rules of the game. Speaking on his youtube channel, Ashwin disclosed an interesting incident involving Rahul Dravid and a waiter about the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow, where they spoke about the rules and spirit of cricket and added that the old man finally gave a verdict that it was clear out.
“The other day, we were sitting on a beach, and Rahul bhai bought me a lemon juice, He had a one-hour discussion with the bartender and waiter on whether Jonny Bairstow was out or not,” Ravichandran Ashwin said.
“They spoke about rules, the spirit of cricket, and everything in their discussion. They are all so passionate. Then suddenly an old man came and declared, “He Bairstow maan, he out Maan,” he added.
Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey collected the short ball bowled by Cameron Green, as Bairstow allowed the pass him on the final delivery of the over. The England wicket-keeper walked off the crease assuming the ball was dead, just before the Australian wicket-keeper directed the ball toward the stumps to dismiss Jonny Bairstow.
Earlier, Ravichandran Ashwin shared his opinion on the wicket, He lauded Alex Carey for his presence of mind in the game rather than wrathing him and added that the Australian wicket-keeper would have noted a pattern before implementing the run out on Jonny Bairstow in the second innings, as he feels that nothing do with the spirit of the game.
“We must get one fact loud and clear. The keeper would never have a dip at the stumps from that far out in a test match unless he or his team has noticed a pattern of the batter leaving his crease after leaving a ball as Bairstow did. We must applaud the game smarts of the individual rather than skewing it towards unfair play or spirit of the game,” Ravichandran Ashwin tweeted.
England skipper Ben Stokes was not happy with the Australian over the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow in the game, as he said that he doesn’t want to win the game in that manner. Meanwhile, Australian skipper Pat Cummins feels that it is well with the rules of the game, as they have no issues with the dismissal.