Opinion Rohit Sharma or Ravichandran Ashwin: Who is right about Mankading?

Sri Lanka had to score an impossible 86 runs in six balls when Sharma withdrew the appeal. What if the game had not been in India’s bag or had higher stakes?

Before the third umpire could give a decision, Sharma had a chat with bowler Mohammad Shami, who went along with his captain's call. (File)

Nihal Koshie

January 12, 2023 10:41 PM IST First published on: Jan 12, 2023 at 07:02 PM IST

Indian captain Rohit Sharma earned praise from all quarters, including from former cricketers, for withdrawing a runout appeal at the non-striker’s end against his Sri Lankan counterpart, Dasun Shanaka, during the last over of the first one-day international in Guwahati. Before the third umpire could give a decision, Sharma had a chat with bowler Mohammad Shami, who went along with his captain’s call. Shanaka scored his century a couple of balls later and Sharma and Shanaka embraced at the end of the game which India won 67 runs.

The blot of poor sportsmanship on a bowler attempting a runout at the non-striker’s end has remained for decades. But last year the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the rule-makers of cricket, removed this form of dismissal from the “unfair play” section and added it to the “run-out” section. Although always a legitimate mode of dismissal, the rule change, it was believed, could end the long-existing debate on fairness.

Sharma took the high moral ground by allowing Shanaka to complete his century. In the process, he reopened a discussion on the spirit of the game related to what was known as “Mankading” over the years.

“I had no idea Shami did that. Shanaka is batting on 98 and the way he batted was brilliant. We cannot get him out like that and we wanted to get him out the way we wanted to get him out. Hats off to him,” Sharma said in post-match comments.

Sharma has chosen to set high standards of ethics as a leader. But when Shami knocked off the bails when Shanaka had advanced down the track, the match was in India’s bag. Sri Lanka needed an unattainable 86 runs in six balls.

Will Sharma withdraw an appeal made by a bowler for the same mode of dismissal if the team needs a crucial wicket in a tense knock-out game of a World Cup or a must-win game of a bilateral series? The real test of Sharma’s principles will be during a high-stakes game, like an India versus Pakistan thriller.

Also, not all of Sharma’s teammates may agree with him, as Shami did. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is an evangelist for bowlers to runout a batsman when they leave the popping crease and gain ground before the ball is delivered. “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,” Ashwin had said, justifying the dismissal of Jos Buttler during an IPL game in Jaipur about three years ago.

Ashwin has said it is a “big insult” if a captain asks a bowler to withdraw an appeal. “The captain will say if the bowler is wrong or what? What a big insult that is to the bowler if a captain is withdrawing the appeal,” he said on his YouTube channel.

The India off-spinner had backed leg-spinner Adam Zampa’s attempt to run out non-striker Tom Rogers in the Big Bash League, although the third umpire ruled “not out”. Zampa’s arm had reached the very final point of release. After controversy erupted, the MCC clarified that the bowler is not entitled to go all the way around in the bowling action and then run out the non-striker.

Drama could follow if Sharma decides to ask Ashwin to withdraw an appeal if such a situation arises or if one of the other bowlers thinks that no quarter should be given in what has become a batsmen’s game.

Sharma’s decision to give Shanaka a second life will also reignite the debate about India women all-rounder Deepti Sharma adhering to the spirit of cricket. Sharma’s actions and words were in contrast to women’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur who defended off-spinner Deepti when she ran out England’s Charlie Dean at the non-striker’s end during an ODI at Lord’s last year to complete a 3-0 clean sweep. “I will back my player because I don’t think she has done anything that isn’t in the ICC rules,” Harmanpreet had said.

Henceforth, other captains who don’t withdraw appeals for runout at the non-striker’s end would be judged even more harshly by the standards Sharma has set. He will have to stick to what he did in Guwahati.

nihal.koshie@expressindia.com