On last Monday night (25th March), Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) captain Ravichandran Ashwin “mankaded” the Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) opener Jos Buttler. However, it wasn’t the first time when Jos Buttler had been “mankaded” in a professional cricket match.
KXIP and RR both began their IPL 2019 journeys on last Monday night at Sawai Mansingh Stadium (Jaipur). After KXIP set a target of 185 runs, RR opening batsman Jos Buttler provided a brilliant start for the host side.
The right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman completed his half-century in 29 balls. He was batting dominantly and was leading the home side towards the victory. However, in the very crucial moment of the match, Ravichandran Ashwin ran him out through the ‘mankading’ style.
The KXIP skipper was going to bowl the final ball of the 13th over of the innings when he dismissed the RR opener. Jos Buttler, at the non-striker end, was way out of the bowling crease when Ravichandran Ashwin dislodged the bowling-end bails to dismiss him. The KXIP skipper didn’t give him a warning before this dismissal.
The set batsman Jos Buttler lost his wicket on 69 runs off 43 balls (ten fours and two sixes). Later, the host side lost that game by 14 runs as they managed to score 170/9 (20 overs).
Jos Buttler’s earlier “mankading” experience
However, it was not the first time when Jos Buttler faced the “mankading” in a professional cricket match. During an ODI between England and Sri Lanka in 2014, he faced a similar dismissal.
It was the crucial series-decider fifth and final ODI of the series between England and Sri Lanka at Birmingham on 3rd June 2014. Sri Lankan off-spinner Sachithra Senanayake gave Jos Buttler a warning during his earlier run-up. During his next run-up, the English batsman made the same mistake, and Sachithra Senanayake ran him out by dislodging the bails at non-striker-end. The English wicketkeeper-batsman lost his wicket on 21 runs off 24 balls.
Later, England lost that game by six wickets as well as they lost the ODI series 3-2. Sri Lanka bowled out the English side for 219 runs. In reply, Sri Lankan middle-order batsmen safely guided the visiting team to the victory. Sri Lanka reached the target (222/4) in 48.2 overs after losing four wickets.