Kings XI Punjab captain R. Ashwin ‘Mankaded’ Rajasthan Royals opener Jos Buttler on the way to victory from a precarious hold in the IPL fixture in Jaipur on Monday. The ‘Mankading’ incident reopened the spirit of the cricket debate. It rewinded to the time of the actual incident; the origin of the verb.
What is Mankading?
It is named after former India all-rounder Vinoo Mankad. During India’s tour of Australia in 1947, Mankad — who also bowled slow left-arm spin — had run out Bill Brown when the non-striker had left the crease before the ball was delivered. Since then, the act — as and when repeated — has been referred to as ‘Mankading’.
Prior the international fixture, Mankad had also run out Brown in the same manner in a tour game.
It is legal but considered against the spirit of the game.
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Like Ashwin now, even Mankad drew flak for the tactic but the then Australia skipper, the legendary Don Bradman, had defended the Indian.
“For the life of me I cannot understand why. The laws of cricket make it quite clear that the non-striker must keep within his ground until the ball has been delivered.
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“If not, why is the provision there which enables the bowler to run him out?
“By backing up too far or too early the non-striker is very obviously gaining an unfair advantage … there was absolutely no feeling in the matter as far as we were concerned, for we considered it quite a legitimate part of the game,” Bradman had written in his autobiography Farewell to Cricket .
There have also been situations when the bowlers respected the spirit of cricket. In the World Cup of 1987, West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh had refrained from running out Saleem Jaffar. The Caribbeans lost the game eventually.
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