What happens when something, very much supported by the law of cricket, is not viewed as ‘done in the spirit of sportsmanship’? ‘Mankading’ is one such very famous, or rather infamous, term in cricket that has ignited heated arguments on more than one occasion to date.
What Does ‘Mankading’ Mean?
According to Law 41.16.: 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.
There is a separate section, marked clearly, on both sides of the 22-yard pitch of the cricket ground known as the ‘crease’. It is the boundary where both the batsmen must stay- at all conditions- from when the ball comes into play till it is released by the baller. Their bats must also touch the ground during this time.
If the batsman on the non-striker end chooses to leave the crease to, say, stay a few moments ahead into the run to be taken once the ball is released, under the above-stated law 41.16, a baller has the complete right to run that non-striker batsman/batswoman out. This act is termed as ‘Mankading’ in cricket.
The First Record of Mankading in the History of International Cricket
To trace the very first implementation of law 41.16, we need to go 86 years back into the previous century. In 1937, English batsman Joe Hardstaff faced a run-out by Khadim Hussain in a tour game against Sindh. Media criticized Hussain for this act and so did the crowd.
But the law got its moniker when the Indian all-rounder Vinoo Mankad did it in India’s tour of Australia in 1947-48. In fact, he did it twice to the Australian opener Bill Brown. In the 4th inning of the 1st test match in that tour, Australia needed to score a huge number of runs in a comparatively short time. In that situation, Brown, at the non-striker end, was leaving the crease multiple times.
Mankad, stopping in his follow-through, warned Brown of doing the run-out if he left the crease again. But Brown didn’t consider the warning seriously, while Mankad turned out to be a man of his word.
After a month, in the 2nd test, Brown was leaving the crease multiple times. He was cautioned even by his partner Arthur Morris of the probable repetition of the incident. But Brown didn’t pay an ear even this time, and Mankad acted upon the law.
Mankad too faced criticism, but many Australian cricketers and media personnel supported Mankad’s act and criticized Brown for breaking the law too many times. This is why the dismissal act was termed ‘Mankading’.
The Viral Phrase ‘Ashwin Mankad’
The 6’2’’ tall off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin made his debut in international cricket in 2011 in a test match against West Indies. Till July 2023, he scored almost 4000 runs and took more than 650 wickets in all three formats of the game. He had a 10-wicket haul in 8 test matches. He has been active in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since 2008.
The initial two incidents of Mankading and some more after these were not so much in talk or in the media as the latest ones were. Thanks to social media. As per reports published various times, Ashwin attempted to apply the Mankading rule 4 times to date. All those times, his actions were viewed as ‘not in the sportsman spirit’ and were criticized heavily.
When India faced Sri Lanka in a match in the ‘Commonwealth Bank ODI Series’ in 2012, in the 40th over, R Ashwin halted in his follow-through stride and flicked the non-striker’s bails off as he found Lahiru Thirimanne off guard while out of the crease. However, Thirimanne was not run out in this attempt as the then-Indian captain Virender Sehwag came to intervene and withdrew the appeal.
A Dismissal to Become a Viral Catchphrase
The 2nd time Ashwin was found doing the same, clear evidence of his support for Mankading, was in IPL 2019 in a match between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals. He used this not-so-commonly practiced method to get Jos Buttler out in that match. This is when the term ‘Mankad’ became synonymous with Ashwin, resulting in the viral, trendy catchphrase ‘Mankad Ashwin’.
In a match between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2020, Ashwin warned RCB batsman Aeron Finch under this law when the latter was leaving the non-striker’s end crease. This third attempt sparked a lot of argument and criticism as Ricky Ponting was the coach of the Delhi Capitals that year.
It is believed that Ponting was behind Ashwin’s consideration of a mere warning and not a dismissal at this time, as the coach was seen smiling at that moment. This was the time the term ‘Mankad’ became viral and started a search wave on Google.
Ashwin made another attempt to implement the ‘Mankad’ run out now a legitimate law- in IPL 2023. This time he tried to take Adil Rashid’s wicket. But the attempt didn’t work out as the umpire intervened and declared a dead ball for the baller stopped in his stride, as can be seen here.
Legitimation of the ‘Mankading’ Run Out
Ashwin ran a campaign- more like a one-man show- for several months in 2020 to legitimize the ‘Mankad’ law- arguably the most villainous way of dismissing a batsman in cricket. He tweeted to clear the air between Aeron Finch about the incident. He even tweeted about it in an attempt to motivate people to stay at home during the coronavirus lockdown in 2020.
In 2022, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) made some changes to the ‘Mankading’ rule to avoid heated debates. The MCC stated, “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.” Do you think ‘Mankading’ should be practiced more often to ensure more disciplined behavior from the batsmen?
