Other than spin bowling skills, Ravichandran Ashwin was infamously known for his intention to mankad the batters. In a recent Star Sports segment, the former India spinner revealed a conversation with Shreyas Iyer during an Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
Because Ashwin tended to mankad the non-striker-end batters, even Shreyas Iyer was afraid of that. Ashwin mentioned that during an IPL season, Iyer requested him not to run out the non-striker-end batters by mankad.
Ravichandran Ashwin reveals a secret conversation with Shreyas Iyer
Ravichandran Ashwin revealed the chat from the IPL 2019 season, when he was leading the Punjab Kings and Shreyas Iyer was the captain of the Delhi Capitals. During the Delhi Capitals vs Punjab Kings match toss in Mohali, Iyer went straight to talk with Ashwin personally.
The incident that Ravichandran Ashwin mentioned was an event that was never revealed before, so it came as a surprise for the hosts of the segment as well. Iyer came to talk to Ashwin before the toss, who then was Punjab Kings’ captain, as he sought assurance from the spinner whether he would go to mankand any of their batters in that match.
Shreyas Iyer came to Ravichandran Ashwin to avoid a Mankad
As Shreyas Iyer assured that none of their bowlers would apply the Mankad way to dismiss the opposing batters in that match, Ashwin said he couldn’t promise.
“I played for Delhi next year. I went to Delhi from Punjab. Ricky Ponting and Shreyas were the captains. Do you know what happened? We were playing in Punjab and Delhi came to Mohali to play the match. Shreyas told me during the toss that he won’t play that (mankad) and I won’t either. I replied i am not coming in for this pact,” Ashwin said.
“Next year I went to Delhi and asked him if he would appeal. He said no, he won’t,” he added.
In the same Indian Premier League season, in 2019, Ashwin mankaded Rajasthan Royals batter Jos Buttler and Punjab eventually won the match. So Shreyas Iyer knew that Ashwin would not hesitate to do that again, even against the Delhi Capitals, if he spotted any opportunity to dismiss the non-striker’s-end batter while bowling.
Ashwin dismissed Jos Buttler via a controversial “Mankad” run-out during a 2019 IPL match, which caused widespread debate. As there were very few instances when a batter was dismissed for a Mankad run-out, the incident became a controversial move.
Mankad gradually became popular among new-age cricketers
Later, when the experts explained that Ravichandran Ashwin did that according to cricket’s rule book, the dismissal of Buttler was fine. Later, when Mankad gradually became popular across the globe, multiple cricketers, including Men’s and Women’s cricketers, tried to follow Ashwin’s footsteps.
Currently, a Mankad run-out is no longer a controversial act, and all the batters keep it in mind that if they go outside of the crease before the release of the ball from the bowler’s hand, then they could be dismissed for a Mankad run-out.
