Ravichandran Ashwin mankading Jos Buttler while playing for Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2019 remains one of the most controversial topics ever in IPL history. The picture of Ashwin catching Buttler out of his crease even before he delivered the ball is fresh in the memory of Indian cricket fans. In his recent Youtube chat show, he opened up on the controversy once again while revealing another interesting story.
On his Youtube show DRS with Ash, he spoke to former Indian spinner Murali Karthik who himself was involved in mankading a batsman during his playing days. Ashwin shared a story on how Ankit Rajpoot who played that season for Punjab under Ashwin did not mankading batsman as he feared of getting into unwanted controversy.
Ashwin said that he adviced Rajpoot to ‘mankad’ the batsman if he gets a chance but Rajpoot denied it straight away.
Ravichandran Ashwin Opens Up On Mankading Incident Involving Anki Rajpoot
“After the incident happened against Rajasthan (Buttler Mankading), in the next match we were playing Mumbai. The last-wicket pair of Rahul Chahar and Alzarri Joseph were batting. One ball and two runs to win. I went to the bowler Ankit Rajpoot and told him, ‘These batsmen will be charging out to run. Just stop and send them back in if he (non-striker) starts running before you delivered. He was scared and said, ‘No way, I won’t do that,” Ashwin recalled Rajpoot saying.
On asking Rajpoot why he did not do it, the KXIP pacer said that he did not want to be involved in an unwanted controversy and being made a villain.
“He came and said to me, ‘If I do this, it will create controversy and I will be made the villain.I told him, ‘what you are doing here is correct. The non-striker is at fault here” Ashwin said.
In IPL 2020, Ashwin was again caught in the act of mankading as he warned RCN opener Aaron Finch who advanced even before Ashwin was on his delivery stride.
Hearing Ashwin’s story on mankading, Murali Kartik also shared an incident when he warned a batsman thrice before mankading him in a County Championship game between Somerset and Surrey.
Murali Kartik On Mankading
“In my case, I warned the batsman thrice. They never spoke about that. Despite the warning, they are blaming the bowler. I am ready to run out all the 11 batsmen if they step out before I deliver the ball,” said Kartik.
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