The veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin reveals that he had had a conversation with Delhi Capitals (DC) coach Ricky Ponting on the contentious issue of running out the non-striker, who is way out of the crease but will reveal the contents of the telephonic conversation only next week. Things started escalalting suddenly when Ponting, said he would have a discussion with the India spinner regarding the controversial manner of dismissing a batsman ahead of the IPL 2020 starting September 19 in the UAE.
Ashwin ran out England batsman Jos Buttler, who was found at the non-striker’s end last season when he backed up too far, and the incident drew a lot of criticism for his act as many called it against the ‘spirit of the game’. While Ashwin has reached Dubai, Ponting will be arriving in the country next week and both of them will be the two will talk in person before the Indian reveals what transpired between them.
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In his Youtube channel, Ashwins said, “Ricky Ponting hasn’t yet reached (Dubai). After he comes, we will sit for a chat with him. He said he wants to have a conversation. We have already talked over the phone. It was a very interesting chat.”
Ashwin said it’s better to have a face-to-face conversation since the message of the heavily-accented Australians can get lost in translation.
He explained, “What happens sometimes is Australians’ messages in English get lost in translation and reach us with a different meaning. Even some of their jokes become news. That’s what it is and next week I will reveal a bit more about my conversation with Ricky.”
Ponting had said he will have a “hard conversation” with Ashwin and won’t allow him to commit something similar at Delhi Capitals since it was “not within the spirit of the game”. On Monday, Ashwin suggested the introduction of a “free ball” for bowlers if non-strikers back up too far, sticking to his stand that there was nothing wrong with running such batsmen out.
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Ashwin had earlier tweeted: “Make it a free ball for the bowler. If the batsmen gets out of that ball, the batting team will be docked 5 runs. Free hit adds to the drama for a batter, let’s give a chance to the bowlers too.”
When a twitter user asserted that the game is primarily for batsmen, Ashwin retorted, “Then take the run out on your chin and stay in!!!!”.
