Ashwin’s Getting Flak for Buttler Run-Out, But What Is Mankading?

This wasn’t the first time Ashwin ‘Mankaded’ a batsman, or the first time Buttler was ‘Mankaded’.

KXIP captain and spinner Ravichandran Ashwin ‘mankaded’ Jos Buttler in the 2019 IPL.

(Photo: BCCI)

Memory of the fourth match of the 2019 Indian Premier League is not going to fade away so easily. Not because it was Kings XI Punjab’s first win against the Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur, but because of a certain dismissal.

In the 13th over of the Royals’ innings, KXIP captain and spinner Ravichandran Ashwin ‘mankaded’ Jos Buttler, who was then going strong at 69 (off 43 balls). This was the first-ever instance of a cricketer ‘Mankading’ another in the Indian Premier League which is now in its 12th season.

What Is ‘Mankading’?

‘Mankading’ aka the act of running a batsman out before a ball has been bowled is no new concept. In fact, the earliest recorded instance of the controversial dismissal in international cricket was in 1947 when Indian bowler Vinoo Mankad ran Bill Brown out during India’s tour of Australia.

Mankad had however given Brown multiple warnings before he ultimately dismissed him. But since then, this controversial fashion of dismissing someone, which falls under the category of a ‘run-out’, has been unofficially referred to as the ‘Mankad’.

The MCC rules aka the Laws of Cricket state that if the non-striker is found to be out of his/her crease “when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, the bowler is permitted to run him/her out".

Earlier, the bowler had to give the opponent a warning before trying to run him out in such a manner, Ashwin, however, did not need to do so according to the updated laws of the game.

You may even have seen an instance of ‘Mankading’ during the Aamir Khan-starrer Lagaan.

This Wasn’t a First for Ashwin, or Buttler

The IPL match on Monday, was also not the first time that Ravichandran Ashwin had tried dismissing a batsman in such a manner, or that Jos Buttler was dismissed in such a manner.

Back in 2012 during the Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia, the 32-year-old Ashwin had ‘mankaded’ Lahiru Thirimanne of Sri Lanka in a group stage game and appealed to the standing umpire. However, senior player Sachin Tendulkar was seen having a word with stand-in captain Virender Sehwag, who then withdrew the appeal in the spirit of the game.

Sehwag, who was then filling in for MS Dhoni as captain, revealed that Ashwin had warned the batsman before attempting the dismissal.

After Ashwin dismantled the bails at the Sawai Mansingh stadium, a stunned Jos Buttler stood for a second to take in what had happened, before getting into a verbal spat with the spinner.

The English batsman is however, no stranger to the ‘mankad’. Back in 2014, he had been dismissed in a similar fashion by Sri Lankan bowler Sachithra Senanayake in Birmingham. In the previous over though, Senanayake had warned Buttler that he was out of his ground before the ball had been bowled.

Previous Instances of ‘Mankading’

Among Indians, it was Kapil Dev who had ‘mankaded’ Peter Kirsten of South Africa during the 1992-93 series and in Indian domestic cricket, Railways' spinner Murali Karthik had ‘mankaded’ Sandipan Das of Bengal during a Ranji Trophy match.

Instances of ‘Mankading’ in Tests

1. Bill Brown by Vinoo Mankad, Australia vs India, Sydney, 1947–1948
2. Ian Redpath by Charlie Griffith, Australia vs West Indies, Adelaide, 1968–1969
3. Derek Randall by Ewen Chatfield, England vs New Zealand, Christchurch, 1977–1978
4. Sikander Bakht by Alan Hurst, Pakistan vs Australia, Perth, 1978–1979

Instances of ‘Mankading’ in ODIs

1. Brian Luckhurst by Greg Chappell, England v Australia, Melbourne, 1974–1975
2. Grant Flower by Dipak Patel, Zimbabwe v New Zealand, Harare, 1992–1993
3. Peter Kirsten by Kapil Dev, South Africa v India, Port Elizabeth, 1992–1993
4. Jos Buttler by Sachithra Senanayake, England v Sri Lanka, Birmingham, 2014

Instances of ‘Mankading’ in T20Is

1. Mark Chapman by Aamir Kaleem, Hong Kong v Oman, 2016 Asia Cup Qualifier, February 2016

(With inputs from Wikipedia)