The IPL has kicked off and as always we are in for a display of the most amazing cricket skills, tricks and athleticism from the world’s best players on show.
The league always evokes immense passion from all of its fans, no matter which team they are supporting.
Kings XI Punjab were at the center of high drama this week, in their opening game against Rajasthan Royals on the 25th of March.
Their captain Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed an dangerous looking Jos Butler who was batting on 69 and all signs looked like he would win the game for the Royals.
Ashwin did so by “Mankading” him out which is a term used to describe the bowler running out a batsman at the non-strikers end.
The analysis paralysis aside, there are the laws of cricket and there is what players have been known to call the “code of conduct” or the “spirit of cricket”.
MCC have stated that Ashwin has not violated the spirit of cricket in any way, but I am going to respectfully disagree. The spirit of the game is what you cannot put down on paper in the first place.
So for them to even suggest whether or not it is in violation is transgressing onto the domain of the ambiguous.
It is a fact that the rules allow for Ashwin to run Butler out if he finds him out of the crease at any point in time of his delivery before the final point of delivery. It is also fact that he is not required to warn Butler or caution him.
It is also fact that this is not the first time that Jos Butler has been run out this way. He was run out similarly in 2014 by Sachithra Senanayake in a one day international against Srilanka. You would think the man would have learned by now!
But then there is what I personally like to call a code of conduct that players impose by themselves upon themselves.
It is what separates the greatest from other champions who believe in winning at any cost.
That unwritten code of conduct would have had a bowler “warn” Butler that some part of him or his bat needs to be grounded in the crease until the ball is released.
That is what Courtney Walsh did in the semi-final of the 1986 when a place in the semi-final was on the line. He could have run out the non-striker in the final over of the game and his team would have won. Instead he chose to caution the batsman, got hit the next ball costing his team the game, leading to their exit from the world cup.
Walsh lost the game on that day but won hearts of almost everyone the world over.
Ashwin has a following of die-hard fans who have jumped to his defense, but I doubt his actions would be adding to that list in great numbers, at least for now.
There is a price we all pay for winning at all costs. What the price in this case will be, only time will tell.
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