The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Delhi Capitals (DC) performed well last season to reach the playoffs make it to the knock-outs and the team will be looking to do the same in this season of the IPL. DC has added a bunch of talented new faces to their squad apart from adding some of the most experienced players in their roster as well. One of them is veteran off-spinner R Ashwin, who was traded in from Kings XI Punjab (KXIP).
One of the biggest highlight of R Ashwin IPL career with KXIP was him mankading Jos Buttler in a match against Rajasthan Royals. It sparked controversy but Ashwin always managed to take the stand that he did everything within the rules of cricket and it should be allowed as it deters non-strikers from taking undue advantage by backing up too far.
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However, a lot of people from cricketing fraternity reckons that the ‘mankading’ mode of dismissing a batsman is against the spirit of the game and it includes Ashwin’s coach at DC, former Australian skipper, Ricky Ponting. The Aussie in a latest podcast has said that he will be having a chat with Ashwin and wouldn’t allow the latter to do it in this season.
During the “Grade Cricketer” Podcast, Ponting said, “I’ll be having a chat with him about (Mankading), that’s the first thing I’ll do. That is going to be a hard conversation I will have with him. I think, even him, looking back now, probably he’d say it was within the rules and he’s right to do it.”
He further added, “…watching that last season, as soon as it happened, I actually sat our boys down and said ‘Look, I know he’s done it, there’ll be others around the tournament who’ll think about doing this well but that’s not going to be the way that we play our cricket. We won’t be doing that’.”
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The IPL 2020 is scheduled to commence on September 19 in the UAE, as it moved out of India due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The senior Indian bowler had defended his actions at that time, saying it was within the rules of the game. But Ponting reckons the controversial mode of dismissal is against the spirit of the game.
DC coach elaborated, “Obviously, he (Ashwin) wasn’t in our squad last year, he’s one of our players that we tried to bring in this year. Look, he’s a terrific bowler, and he’s done a great job in the IPL for a long period of time now.”
