The match footage of Ravichandran Ashwin’s over shows Jos Buttler repeatedly being out of the line before he ‘Mankads’ the Rajasthan Royals batsman.
Ravichandran Ashwin ignited a huge uproar on the social media after he dismissed Jos Buttler with a Mankad.
The opinions began to flow almost immediately after the dismissal with many fans and pundits having varied opinions about the incident.
While some attacked Ashwin for violating the ‘spirit of cricket’, many defended the Kings XI Punjab captain on the grounds that the law of the game allows for Mankad as a form of dismissal.
Shane Warne, the RR mentor, as well as Paddy Upton (the RR coach), criticised Ravichandran Ashwin, while many experts also took his side after the game.
Ravi Ashwin Mankad:
A Twitter user pointed out that Jos Buttler had been regularly stepping out of the line before the spinner dismissed him with a Mankad.
The fan posted three screenshots of the over in which the Kings XI Punjab skipper bowled out Ajinkya Rahane.
The pictures prove that Ravi Ashwin had been noticing the pattern in Buttler’s mannerisms at the non-striker’s end before finally Mankading him.
Have a look:
Here’s the video which compares the two deliveries – Rahane’s wicket, and Jos Buttler’s wicket. The videos shows that Buttler was fractionally outside the line when Ashwin was about to release the delivery for Rahane’s wicket.
Harsha Bhogle, who had been defending Ravi Ashwin on the dismissal, quote-tweeted the comment and further questioned if Buttler would’ve secured an unfair advantage in a case of a run-out at the other end.
Australian former fast bowler Mitchell Johnson also seemed to agree to the screenshot and the argument.
How Twitter reacted..
What next?
Jos Buttler is yet to make a statement on the controversy.
