Mankading batsman strictly prohibited at Delhi Capitals: Ricky Ponting warns Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin mankading Jos Buttler was one of the biggest talking points of the 2019 edition of IPL. Buttler became the first batsman to be mankaded in IPL history. It led to a widespread debate across the cricketing world. While some lashed out at the spinner, reasoning that it was against the spirit of cricket, others backed him as it was within the rules.

Recently, Ricky Ponting voiced his opinion on the mankad controversy. The Delhi head coach wasn’t quite impressed with Ashwin’s act and said that he will have a one-to-one conversation with Ashwin on the same.

“I’ll be having a chat with him about (Mankading), that’s the first thing I’ll do. That is going to be a hard conversation I will have with him. I think, even him, looking back now, probably he’d say it was within the rules and he’s right to do it.” Ponting told on The Grade Cricketer Podcast.

Ricky Ponting mentioned that as far as Delhi Capitals is concerned, any such act is strictly prohibited.

“I must admit watching that last season, as soon as it happened and he did that, I actually sat our boys down and said ‘Look, I know he’s done it, there’ll be others around the tournament who’ll think about doing this well but that’s not going to be the way that we play our cricket. We won’t be doing that’.” He added.

 “This is not within the spirit of the game, not in the way I want, at least with the Delhi Capitals anyway,” said the former Australian skipper.

For those of you who don’t know, the incident happened in the fourth match of the 2019 IPL. Batting first, Punjab had posted a formidable total of 184 runs on the board. In reply, Rajasthan Royals raced to 100-run mark in just 12 overs.

Jos Butter was going pretty strong having made 69 runs off 43 balls. With 77 runs needed from 43 balls, Ashwin mankaded Buttler and left everyone in a complete shock. Buttler’s wicket started a collapse as RR lost 8 wickets for just 56 runs. Kings Eleven Won won the game by 14 runs in the end.