Kings XI Punjab captain Ravichandran Ashwin has no regrets in ‘mankading’ a set Rajasthan Royals opener Jos Buttler, saying these sort of moments are game-changers and a batsman “need to be wary of it” before leaving the crease early.
Ashwin sparked off a big controversy when he mankaded Buttler, the first to be dismissed in such a manner in the history of the Indian Premier League.
A desperate Ashwin ran Buttler out in the 13th over with the batsman going strong at 69 off 43 balls. The dismissal is sure to raise fresh debate over the spirit of the game as the off-spinner didn’t give the Englishman a prior warning.
But Ashwin said he was completely within his rights to execute such a dismissal, which completely turned the match in Kings XI’s favour.
Read: Ashwin 'mankads' Buttler
“No real argument on that and it was pretty instinctive. I didn’t even load and he just left the crease. We ended on the right side of the coin, but I definitely think that those are game-changing moments and batsmen need to be wary of it,” Ashwin said after Kings XI beat Rajasthan by 14 runs.
The Kings XI skipper lauded his bowlers for bringing the team back into the contest.
“We all know that after six overs it is going to slow down. Credit to bowlers on how they bowled. I have been working on a lot of variations, pretty happy that it came out,” he said.
“Sam (Curran) had a bad day with the ball, but he came back well. Everybody ticked their boxes. We do have a few options amongst us, but if we can have good five overs, there is nothing like it.”
Rajasthan Royals skipper Ajinkya Rahane refused to comment on the controversial dismissal and left it on the match referee to take a call on the issue.
As the RR vs KXIP match happened
“We are not supposed to comment on a controversial issue. The match referee will take the call. We will take the decision sportively,” he said when asked about the dismissal.
Rahane too praised the opposition bowlers for restricting Rajasthan, especially after a superb start to the chase.
“I thought we were batting really well. We started off well at the top and then got another good partnership. Later on we needed 39 off 4 overs and we thought that could have been done easily,” he said.
“But Kings XI bowled really well in the last three overs. When you are chasing 180 plus, someone has to go really hard.”
Man-of-the-match Chris Gayle, who hit 79 off 47 balls, was happy with his form.
“This is a big ground to be honest. I have been in a good form, so it was good to start on a winning note. Sarfaraz (Khan) got some runs today, which was really good. “One thing we discussed before the tournament was to win this IPL for the Universe Boss (referring to himself) and the youngsters have got my backing,” he signed off.
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