This season of the Indian Premier League began just three days ago and it has already courted controversy. During a match against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, Kings XI Punjab captain and bowler Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Jos Buttler in a run out popularly called ‘Mankading’.
Named after legendary Indian bowler Vinoo Mankad, ‘Mankading’ is a method of run out where a bowler dismisses a non-striker by hitting the bails before bowling when the latter is outside the crease. Though this is a legally permissible dismissal, it is considered against the spirit of the game.
The Laws of Cricket 41.16 states that a “Non-striker leaving his/her ground early: If the non-striker is out of his/her ground from the moment the ball comes into play to the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, the bowler is permitted to attempt to run him/her out. Whether the attempt is successful or not, the ball shall not count as one in the over.”
The law also states that if the bowler fails in an attempt to run out the non-striker, the umpire shall call and signal Dead ball as soon as possible.
The credit for inventing the word ‘Mankading’ goes to the Australian Press. During India’s tour of Australia in 1947, Vinoo Mankad had dismissed Bill Brown, not once but twice by removing the bails when he was outside the crease. Though the then Australian captain Don Bradman supported Mankad, the Australian Press criticised him for being unsportsmanlike.
The Laws of Cricket was amended several times after this incident, but it was decided to retain this form of run out to disallow batsmen from stealing runs.
There have been instances where the bowlers refrained from using this method, like the 1987 World Cup match between Pakistan and West Indies. Courtney Walsh refused to run Salim Jaffar out, which resulted in West Indies losing the game to Pakistan.
Incidentally, this is not the first time Ashwin tried to dismiss a non-striker. During the 2012 Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia, Ashwin ran Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Thirimanne out using the same method. He had even warned Thirimanne earlier. However, captain Virender Sehwag withdrew the appeal and the umpires considered it as a dead ball.
