Since former Kings XI Punjab captain Ravichandran Ashwin dislodged the bails at the non-striker’s ends, dismissing Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler in IPL 2019, the cricketing fraternity has been divided into two halves regarding the legality of the infamous ‘Mankad’.
One school of thought affirms that batsmen should not gain the extra advantage of a few metres in their bid to take a single or double, the other questions the ‘Spirit of Cricket’.
The recent U19 World Cup in South Africa witnessed another instance of ‘Mankad’ dismissal, Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad dismissed Pakistan batsman Mohammad Huraira.
Thereby, reigniting the flares of debate of rights and wrongs involving the ‘Mankad’ dismissal. Now, out of favour Pakistan pacer Wahab Riaz has issued his opinion regarding the debatable topic of ‘Mankad’.
In a recent interaction, Riaz backed himself to dismiss batsman off his deliveries, rather than going against the ‘Spirit of Cricket’.
“I will deliver the ball normally because I think Mankading is against sportsman spirit. I will back my skills to dismiss the batsman because there is no fun in winning if you adopt such tactics,” Riaz was quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
In August, Pakistan is lined up to tour England for a Test series, following the series against West Indies in July.
Riaz appeared optimistic about the resumption of cricket after the hiatus due to COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The teams are scheduled to play in a bio-secure environment.
“It will be a challenging task for the Pakistan team but the good thing is the revival of cricket. I appreciate the steps taken by the PCB and ECB to make this happen,” added the left-arm pacer.
Both Riaz, along with Mohammad Amir, surprised one and all with their decision to quit Test cricket. The 34-year-old also had his say on his choice of quitting red-ball cricket.
“I will only play Test cricket if I’m able to perform and be a regular part of the team, rather than warming the bench,” he said. “Before my decision to take a break from Test cricket, I was not part of the side for almost two years and my good performances were largely in white-ball cricket,” Riaz concluded.
