Sunil Gavaskar slams Indian media for blatant use of term 'Mankading' for Ashwin dismissal

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin mankading Jos Buttler grabbed a lot of eyeballs in the last season of the Dream11 IPL and had left people from the cricket fraternity divided with the 'spirit of the game' debate coming into the picture. Ashwin, who now represents the Delhi side in the Dream11 IPL 2020, warned Aaron Finch recently in a match against Bangalore as he left his crease before the ball was delivered. Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar had an interesting take on the Ashwin Mankading incident along with the name of the dismissal. 

Sunil Gavaskar unhappy with Indian media 

The former India captain spoke about his concerns regarding the dismissal, labelling the term Mankading as 'unacceptable'. In an interview with The Indian Express, he said that the name is derived from Vinoo Mankad, who was the first one to claim a dismissal where the non-striker was ruled out as he stepped outside his crease before the ball was delivered and Mankad dislodged the stumps. 

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Sunil Gavaskar was on commentary duty in the Dream11 IPL 2020 match when the Ashwin Mankading incident took place with Aaron Finch being given a warning by the bowler. Sunil Gavaskar addressed Ashwin's actions as an attempt to 'Brown' Finch as he feels that the term Mankading that is looked down upon by people as an unsportsmanly behaviour should not be coined with the name of an Indian legend, but should be called 'Brown' based on Bill Brown, the batsman who was dismissed by Vinoo Mankad in 1947.

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It was Australia's Bill Brown who was at fault as he broke the rule according to Sunil Gavaskar and hence, the name of the dismissal should be named after the batsman and not the bowler. Sunil Gavaskar blasted the Indian media for their blatant use of the term Mankading, while he also showed his displeasure on Aaron Finch's approach. The veteran commentator stated that Finch was a yard out of his crease and Ashwin was well within his rights to run him out. Gavaskar opined that it is high time the Australians learnt, since this is 2020, which is 73 years after the Brown-Mankad incident took place.

This is not the first instance of Gavaskar speaking his mind against the Australian cricket mentality, as he claims that their cricketers for some reason, insist that they 'play hard, but a fair brand of cricket'. The former India opener had famously lashed out on commentary at Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, the Australian captain and vice-captain respectively, in the controversial 2008 Sydney Test match, for wrongly influencing an umpire to adjudge Sourav Ganguly out after a grassed catch. 

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Sunil Gavaskar further added that there are stringent rules during field restrictions where, even if a fielder steps a foot outside the circle, it is termed as a no-ball. He believes the batsmen too should not be allowed to take undue advantage by backing up far down the wicket. Gavaskar revealed that he is an advocate of running the non-striker out if he is out of the crease before the ball is delivered. 

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Delhi's coach Ricky Ponting had revealed that he will speak to Ashwin about not 'Mankading' a batsman in the Dream11 IPL 2020. Ashwin, as a result, did not dismiss Finch but left him with a stern warning. The spinner took to his Twitter account to announce that it was the first and last warning from his side for the Dream11 IPL 2020 and Ricky Ponting should not blame him if he dismisses a player in this fashion in the future. 

In the last season of the cash-rich league, veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh warned Delhi captain Shreyas Iyer of running him out the next time he left the non-striker end before the ball was delivered. Harbhajan Singh did not dislodge the bails but gave Iyer a warning of staying in his crease. The spinner is not a part of Dream11 IPL 2020 as he withdrew his name from the mega-event.