Reporter's query left unanswered as T20 WC captains remain silent on 'mankad' in presser

The ICC Men's T20 World Cup is all set to kickstart on October 16, Sunday in Australia, where 16 teams will compete against one another for the ultimate T20 title. Meanwhile, the captains of all 16 teams addressed a press conference on Saturday, where they talked about their combinations and other stuffs related to the marquee ICC event. The pre-tournament press conference began with the first set of captains from Australia, Afghanistan, England, New Zealand, Namibia, Netherlands, Sri Lanka, and UAE. 

A reporter asked the captains of Australia, Afghanistan, England, New Zealand, Namibia, Netherlands, Sri Lanka, and the UAE to raise their hands if they would be 'comfortable' if one of their bowlers running out the non-striker during the course of the competition. The ICC media manager then intervened and moved on to take other questions following minutes of awkward silence in which none of the captains raised their hands. Here's the video that is going viral. 

The 'Mankading' debate has gained traction across the cricketing world ever since Indian women's team all-rounder Deepti Sharma ran out England's Charlotte Dean at the non-striker's end for backing up too early. The incident occurred during the third and final ODI match between India and England at Lord's late last month. India needed just one wicket to win the match and Sharma decided to do it by running out Dean at the non-striker's end. She received a lot of flak for her tactic as many pundits believed it to be against the spirit of the game.  

However, Sharma did receive some backing from Indian cricket fraternity with Virender Sehwag and Ravichandran Ashwin voicing their support for the young all-rounder. Both of them argued that the form of dismissal has been moved from the 'unfair play' section to 'run out' section by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and therefore what Sharma did was well within the laws of the game. Ashwin went on to demand that the wickets ought to be credited to bowlers' accounts when they run out batters at the non-striker's end for backing up too far.

T20 World Cup 2022: All you need to know

Meanwhile, India will kickstart their T20 World Cup campaign with a game against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 23. The match is scheduled to be held at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) with more than 1,00,000 spectators expected to be present at the venue. South Africa and Bangladesh are the other two teams in India's group with two more sides expected to join them after the qualifier round ends on October 21.

Image: ICC