England pacer Stuart Broad gave out his sharp opinion over the decision of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to move running out a batter while leaving the crease from the non-striker’s end while a bowler is in delivery stride, also known commonly as ‘Mankad’ from ‘unfair play’ to ‘run-out’ category.
Until now, ‘Mankading’ was treated as an unfair mode of dismissal but it has now been moved to Law 38, which concerns run-outs. “Law 41.16 – running out the non-striker – has been moved from Law 41 (Unfair Play) to Law 38 (Runout). The wording of the Law remains the same,” said the MCC on Wednesday about the change to come into effect from October 1.
“So the Mankad is no longer unfair & is now a legitimate dismissal. Hasn’t it always been a legitimate dismissal & whether it is unfair is subjective? I think it is unfair & wouldn’t consider it, as IMO, dismissing a batter is about skill & the Mankad requires zero skill,” wrote Broad on Twitter.
When a fan asked, “So you should never run them out?”, Broad replied, “Imo run out is a skill. Hearing someone run, sprinting full pace to pick up the ball & deciding which end to throw it in a split second & aiming your throw close to the stumps to run out.”
Running out a batter from a non-striker’s end has been seen as an official dismissal since legendary India all-rounder Vinoo Mankad ran out Bill Brown at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1947 against Australia. But the mode of dismissal has often triggered debates over the spirit of the game.
“It is a run-out but it has always been in the unfair play law and we questioned, why is it unfair? It is legitimate, it is a run-out and therefore it should live in the run-out section of the laws. Before this change, this was the only way you could be out that wasn’t in the dismissals section,” Fraser Stewart, the head of the laws department at MCC was quoted as saying by The Times.
One such incident came in IPL 2019 when Ravichandran Ashwin ran out Jos Buttler from the non-striker end in the opening match of their respective teams Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) and Rajasthan Royals respectively.
On the second last ball of the 13th over, Ashwin had spotted that Buttler had left his crease before he was to deliver the ball and ran him out, triggering a debate over the spirit of the game.
In a curious twist of fate, Ashwin and Buttler will now be in the same dressing room for the Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2022 season from March 26 to May 29.
