Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin not only became ne of India’s top wicket-takers, but his brilliant fielding also helped India and his franchise teams many times. And, one of the incidents came when he famously ran out England batter Jos Buttler at the non-striker’s end during an IPL game in 2019. Recently, he recalled the incident as well, and he faced a lot of criticism for it too.

“A lot of people talk about character, say this is wrong, or that the player is wrong. After hearing all that, I felt like doing it even more, not to prove a point to people. There was a moment when I was captain against Mumbai, and they needed two runs. I was at extra cover and told the bowler to run the batter out at the non-striker’s end. The batter ran, but the bowler refused because people say it’s wrong. If the ICC felt this was an honesty problem, they wouldn’t keep it in the rules,” R Ashwin said on JioStar’s ‘The Ravichandran Ashwin Experience’.

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“If you need two runs off one ball and you start running early, whose fault is it? People say Jos Buttler didn’t try to run, but that’s not my problem. People also say I did it to win. Of course, I did it to win. What is there to be ashamed of? After I ran him out, I called the team and said, ‘This will look different to them, they will lose, don’t worry about the reaction, I will handle the media, we just have to win.’ And we won. So, there is no issue of character in this,” he further added.

R Ashwin, who also played alongside Jos Buttler at Rajasthan in the IPL, said that other bowlers are afraid to inflict this form of dismissal as well.

“Other bowlers should also do it. Why don’t they? Because of the first thought that comes to mind: ‘What will people say?’ It has become a kind of societal pressure, whether it is right or wrong. This started with umpires asking captains if they want to withdraw the appeal. If you withdraw, you are seen as ‘good’, which is also wrong, because you let your bowler down in front of everyone,” he said.

“This decision should belong to the bowler, and giving it out or not is the umpire’s job. Why make a rule so complex? Like LBW, this is also out. Many cricketers tweeted that this is bad. My answer is simple: I didn’t steal, I didn’t do anything wrong, I played within the laws. Those who talk like this-I could file a case against them in court. What they are doing is character assassination. I am very proud of it, I will continue to be, and whoever does it, I will praise them even more,” R Ashwin concluded.