A day after R Ashwin was warned by the bowler for leaving the crease too early in a TNPL match, the spin-bowling all-rounder took to social media to defend his action.
Ashwin, who has been vocal for the ‘Mankad’ dismissal to prevent non-strikers from taking undue advantage, was at the receiving end in one of the TNPL matches for his side Dindugal Dragons against Nellai Royal Kings.
The incident happened in the 15th over. Ashwin was backing up at the non-striker's end when the bowler stopped midway in his run-up to warn about the batter prematurely leaving the crease. Replays showed that Ashwin's bat was inside the crease initially when the bowler halted his action but slid past to be just on the line before he realised and went back inside the crease.
Ashwin: They don't know the rules
The spin-bowling all-rounder replied to an X (formerly Twitter) post to point out that he would have still been not out even if the bowler had dislodged the bails.
Exactly. Why are the commentators not pointing the fact that he was in at the time of the delivery stride, and that it would have been a Not out?
— Sankara Subramaniam (@Sankarcalls) July 29, 2024
Agreeing to the assessment of the original poster, Ashwin shared a screenshot of an old version of the run out at the non-stiker's end law which said: "Law 38.3, which pertains to the 'Non-striker leaving his/her ground early,' states: 'At any time from the moment the ball comes into play until the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, the non-striker is liable to be Run out if he/she is out of his/her ground." To that, Ashwin added "they don't know the rule" along with a laughing emoji.
Cos they don’t know the rule😂 pic.twitter.com/r1B6Ndyyue
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) July 29, 2024
As luck would have it, Ashwin was eventually run out for a 13-ball 15 by Rithik Easwaran S as the Dragons were bowled out for 136. In reply, the Royal Kings gunned down the target with 2.5 overs and six wickets remaining. Arun Karthik (45 off 30) and Guruswamy Ajitesh (43 not out off 39) played a starring role in the chase.
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