Iceland Cricket has always had a pretty fun Twitter handle. From poking fun at everyone to even themselves, they have never shied away from a bit of banter. We’ve all enjoyed their coverage of the world cup and they’re at it again with their take on the current Mankad warning from Ashwin.
This is a satirical tweet from the Iceland Cricket’s twitter handle that is in response to cricket purists who have criticised Mankading. They say it is unsportsmanlike to run out a player like that, and the bowler should instead just warn the batsmen when they’re caught outside the crease. The tweet in response to these people reads, “This is so unsporting of MS Dhoni. He does it all the time. The batsman only came out of his crease by a short margin and he didn’t mean to. Dhoni should be giving the batsman a warning and then let him carry on batting.” – Ricky Ponting.”
This tweet pokes fun at those who say the batsman should be given a warning before being run out. It also draws parallels with stumping which is identical to when a non-striker leaves his crease before a ball is bowled. The point it makes is that since stumping is never questioned for being unsportsmanlike, nor should Mankading be since both are similar ways to dismiss a batsman who leaves his crease to take advantage.
Ricky Ponting has been a critic of Mankading and has spoken againt it in the past. He could be seen smiling when Ashwin warned Finch for leaving his crease early. Ashwin has already run out Josh Butler in 2019 IPL and has come under intense criticism from mostly the English cricketers and their media.
For me, the issue should have long been resolved with Sir Don Bradman’s take on it. Talking about the Vinoo Mankad’s run out in 1947 he said, “For the life of me, I can’t understand why [the press] questioned his sportsmanship. The laws of cricket make it quite clear that the non-striker must keep within his ground until the ball has been delivered. If not, why is the provision there which enables the bowler to run him out? By backing up too far or too early, the non-striker is very obviously gaining an unfair advantage.”
