Former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has once again reiterated his stance on the controversial ‘mankading’ method of dismissing a batsman. Over the years, Ashwin has been indifferent to his stance in favor of the bowler executing this method of dismissal.
The act of ‘mankading’ refers to a bowler running out a batsman at the non-striker’s end while he is out of his crease before the ball is bowled.
What is ‘Mankading’?
It is named after former Indian all-rounder Vinoo Mankad, who was the first player to be dismissed in this manner in a Test match. Mankad had run out Australia’s Bill Brown in a similar manner in 1948.
Since then, ‘Mankad’ has always created controversy. Many believe that this is a completely underhanded way of taking wickets, while others believe that a bowler should warn the batsman a few times before dismissing him in this manner.
Proponents of dismissal believe that in this scenario the only person being cheated is the non-striker who is trying to steal runs. In October 2022, the MCC, which is the custodian of the laws of cricket, moved the act from the ‘unfair play’ section of the law to regular run outs.
The last major controversy regarding Mankad occurred in September 2022 when India’s Deepti Sharma ran out England’s Charlie Dean in an ODI at Lord’s to seal a 3–0 series win for the visitors.
If ICC felt this was an issue of integrity then they would not have included it in the rules – Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin recently spoke to JioHotstar about the runout at the non-striker’s end and his controversy related to it. During the IPL in 2019, Ashwin was the captain of Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) and he ran out Jos Buttler of Rajasthan Royals in this manner. There was a lot of controversy regarding this on social media.
Interestingly, this was not the first time that Ashwin or Buttler were involved in the ‘Mankading’ incident. In an ODI match in 2014, Sri Lanka’s Sachitra Senanayake ran out Butler at the non-striker’s end. In 2012, Ashwin ran out Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Thirimane in an ODI match, but India captain Virender Sehwag withdrew the appeal.
Talking about getting out, Ashwin said, “A lot of people talk about character, say it’s wrong or the player is wrong. After hearing all this, I felt like doing it more. There was a moment when I was the captain against Mumbai and we needed two runs. I was at extra cover and asked the bowler to run him out at the non-striker’s end. The batsman ran, but the bowler refused because people say it is wrong. If the ICC felt that That’s an integrity problem, so they won’t keep it.”
Ravichandran Ashwin talked about a special incident that happened with Jos Buttler. He said, “People say that Jos Buttler did not try to run, but that is not my problem. People also say that I did it to win. Of course, I did it to win.”
“What’s there to be embarrassed about? I called the team after running him out and said, ‘This will feel different to them, they will lose, don’t worry about the reaction. I’ll handle the media, we just have to win.’ And we won. So there is no character issue in this.”
What’s next for Ravichandran Ashwin?
Ravichandran Ashwin first gained popularity on social media through his YouTube channel. After international retirement in 2024 and IPL retirement in 2025, he has been a darling of the media and commentary box in general. His sharp insights have been a fan favorite in IPL 2026.
After retiring from Indian cricket, Ravichandran Ashwin had planned to play in leagues outside India and will play for the San Francisco Unicorns in MLC 2026.
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