One of the most memorable instances of the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was former Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) captain, Ravichandran Ashwin’ Mankading’ Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) batsman Jos Buttler.
The dismissal opened a can of worms which divided the entire cricketing fraternity, rowing over the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ issue. ‘Mankad’ dismissal is within the laws of the books and was advocated by the bowling community, who demand the balance of the game to be restored.
Moreover, a lot has changed after the debatable incident from last year. Ashwin has been released by KXIP franchise and was later bagged by Delhi Capitals (DC) in the auction.
DC’s maiden IPL trophy is one of the key projects for head coach Ricky Ponting, who has built the team around its youngsters. However, both Ponting and Ashwin have opposing views on ‘Mankad’ dismissal, and the former has remained firm on his stance lately.
“I’ll be having a chat with him about (mankading), that’s the first thing I’ll do. Obviously, he wasn’t in our squad last year, he’s one of our players that we tried to afford to bring in this year. Look, he’s a terrific bowler, and he’s done a great job in the IPL for a long period of time now, but I must admit watching that last season, as soon as it happened and he did that, I actually sat our boys down and said ‘Look, I know he’s done it, there’ll be others around the tournament who’ll think about doing this as well but that’s not going to be the way that we play our cricket. We won’t be doing that’,” Ponting said on The Grade Cricket Podcast.
“So, that’s going to be a conversation and that’s going to be a hard conversation I will have to have with him, but I’m pretty sure he’ll take it on the chin,” he added.
As soon as the news broke out, netizens started trolling Ponting for his remarks over the ‘mankad ban’ on Ashwin.
Here’s a look at some of the reactions:
A cricket coach is going to ask his senior player not to follow a law of the game. And sanctimonious cricket pundits are going to celebrate it. What a Shame.
Ponting bhai, aap coaching karo na yaar. Let players make their choices on the ground as per rules of the game. https://t.co/AyBvpiTfku
— cricBC (@cricBC) August 19, 2020
Batsman leaving the crease before the ball is delivered, when they know they're getting an advantage, is that in the spirit of the game!#cricket #IPL2020 https://t.co/seSB4fv89z
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) August 20, 2020
Ponting discussing Spirit of game! #IPL2020 pic.twitter.com/s7KFZumm9f
— mon (@4sacinom) August 19, 2020
Ponting : no mankads while i am head coach of DC.
Ashwin : i will
Ponting : you can't
Ashwin : i will
Ponting : pic.twitter.com/6h94uezKI4
— TEJ (@jetstoicc) August 19, 2020
https://twitter.com/iamsagarcastic/status/1296091161195552771
Very glad to see that 12 years after Sydney the coach of the Capitals is saying he wants his team to play the game in the “spirit of the game”. @g_rajaraman @sunandanlele Hindi saying “देर आए दुरुस्त आए”. pic.twitter.com/NnO438z5RO
— PRAKASH WAKANKAR (@pakwakankar) August 19, 2020
He was the fiercest competitor of his time. He is also without a doubt one of the best pundits going around, not to mention my favorite ever non-Indian batsman. BUT for Ricky Ponting, of all people, to preach about the ‘spirit of the game’… https://t.co/zkVapm8edW
— Raunak Kapoor (@RaunakRK) August 19, 2020
As an Australian captain, Ponting made several attempts to compromise with the ‘Spirit of the Game’. The public brought out the instance from the 2008 Sydney Test match where he appealed for a grassed catch.
