Mumbai Indians’ all-rounder Krunal Pandya, on Saturday, decided not to break the stumps with Kings XI Punjab’s top-order batsman Mayank Agarwal, the non-striker, out of the crease before the ball was released.
Krunal had a chance to ‘Mankad’ Mayank in the 10th over of KXIP’s 177-run chase in Mohali but the former let it go. Meanwhile, Quinton de Kock, who was keeping the wickets for MI enjoyed the moment.
Agarwal was on 19 at the point and went on to make an explosive 43 off 21 balls to inject momentum into Punjab’s eventually successful chase.
The hosts were 80 for 1 at that point, and by the time Mayank departed, the target had come down to 60 runs from 39 balls.
As per the IPL playing conditions as well as Law 41.16, Krunal had the right to run Mayank out. Although there is no rule to warn the batsman, it’s regarded as a convention, Krunal opted to just let the non-striker hop back into the crease.
Moments later the broadcasters zoomed the camera towards KXIP skipper Ravichandran Ashwin. On last Monday, playing in Jaipur against Rajasthan Royals, Ashwin had run Jos Buttler out backing up at the non-striker’s end.
His action had generated a massive debate on social media and elsewhere, with several players, past and present, criticising Ashwin for forgetting about the ‘Spirit of Cricket’.
The MCC, the arbiter of the laws of the game, initially cleared Ashwin of any wrongdoing, but later reviewed their statement, saying the off-spinner had paused too long before releasing the ball, something not within the ‘Spirit of cricket’.
Here’s the video:
— CricBoll (@mycricboll) March 31, 2019
