After being controversially Mankaded by R Ashwin in one of the initial games of the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Jos Buttler as not heard saying anything in public about the incident. But now he has broken his silence regarding the issue and called for clarity in the laws in order to govern the game better. Ashwin, who was leading the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in that game in Jaipur, came to bowl the 13th over during the RR’s chase of 185.
The hosts were comfortably commanding the game at 108 for 1 when Ashwin decided to run Buttler out at the non-striker’s end as he left the crease looking for a run. The act led to a huge controversy on social media and although Ashwin found supporters backing him, he was also scrutinized as well for violating the game’s spirit.
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Buttler was yet given out by the umpires and the incident saw a complete change in the texture of the game as the RR eventually lost the match by 14 runs. He was the highest scorer for them with 69 in 43 balls. What made the incident even more controversial is that Ashwin seemed almost halted for a bit for the batsman to go forward and took off the bails.
As per the quotes in Times of India, Buttler said, “At the time, I was really disappointed with it. I didn’t like the style of it.” It can be mentioned here that both Ashwin and Buttler were found involved in such instances of ‘Mankading’ earlier as well and on both occasions, Sri Lanka were the common opponents.
Buttler even said that after that incident, he became more conscious about it. However, he even played a match-winning 59 against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday at the same venue where he was ‘Mankaded’.
Talking about the same, he said, “That is why it was nice to get some runs in the win and get back to thinking about batting and not worrying about how I back up at the non-striker’s end.”
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Buttler was opined that the decision that went against him on March 25 was “probably wrong” since the time when Ashwin was expected to release the ball saw him standing inside the crease. However, he has nothing against Mankading as the dismissal is well within the laws of the game to ensure that a batsman did not take undue advantage while taking a run but at the same time, he said the law’s words “when a bowler is expected to release the ball” was “a wishy-washy statement”.
