NEW DELHI: Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin released a long statement, expressing his thoughts on the 'mankading' controversy ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023. He said if anyone run-outs Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or any big player in the Knockout stage of the game, the hell will break out in that situation.
Here is what Ashwin wrote on X:“This is a fair assessment of the situation. Imagine someone running out Kohli, Rohit, Smith, Root, or any crucial batter at the nonstrikers in the World Cup semi-final or a crunch game that will decide qualification.
"I am sure hell will break loose and there will be a character assassination campaign by some experts who still don’t agree with it and of course, fans that are on the receiving end.”
Further, he wrote, “At the moment not all teams are doing it but come the World Cup, I really hope everyone is ready for it cos taking a moral high stand and saying we won’t do it, should open a strategic window for the other teams and genuinely teams should take every single advantage coming their way because winning a World Cup is a lifetime achievement.”
He also wrote a solution to the problem stating that, “There is only one solution, whoever be the batter and whatever be the magnitude of the situation, the batter needs to watch the bowler load the ball up and rotate his shoulder before taking off and if he doesn’t do that and gets out, we should applaud the bowler and tell the batsmen that he can do better.”
Ashwin himself mankaded Jos Buttler in IPL season 2019, after that many other players did the same and the controversy grew further. The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has clarified on several occasions and has also amended the law multiple times.
Recently Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan got out in a similar manner in the crucial juncture of the game when Afghanistan pace bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi mankaded him.
However, Pakistan won the match on the second last ball, but the talk around mankading started again.