Ever since Ravichandran Ashwin’s mankad incident took place, batsmen have realized the importance of staying inside the crease, irrespective of where they play. More often than not, bowlers send a message to the batsmen by imitating the fake mankad.
A similar incident happened in the 19th match of the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) played between Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Stars at Sydney Showground Stadium on Thursday.
Thunder’s all-rounder Chris Morris decided to have some fun with Star’s batsman Marcus Stoinis. During the third over of Star’s innings, Morris ran in to deliver the ball to Nick Larkin. However, halfway through his run-up, the ball slipped and fell out of Morris’s hand.
After dropping the ball, Morris continued his run-up and decided to fake a mankad on the non-striker Stoinis.
Stoinis, on the other hand, didn’t scare at all as he was already inside his crease. The prank from the South African ended up with a funny stare-off between him and Stoinis.
The official Twitter handle of BBL posted the video and captioned, “The attempted-no-ball-mankad-fake… Chris Morris has that move perfected! #BBL09.”
The attempted-no-ball-mankad-fake… Chris Morris has that move perfected! #BBL09 pic.twitter.com/tRqSBi7Qiq
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 2, 2020
In the match, Thunder scored 142-7 in their allotted 20 overs. Glenn Maxwell-led Stars chased down the total with two balls to spare. Nick Larkin was gratified with the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his 45-ball 65 run performance.
Melbourne Stars will meet Melbourne Renegades in their next match on Saturday (January 04), while Sydney Thunder will take on the challenge of Brisbane Heat on Monday (January 06).