“Presence of mind”- Ravichandran Ashwin gives sarcastic reply to England cricketer, requests ICC for a bravery award after Deepti Sharma’s heroics

Ravichandran Ashwin gave a sarcastic reply to England cricketer Sam Billings, who tried to troll Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma after she pulled off a Mankad run-out against the England women in the third ODI at Lord's on Saturday.

The Indian all-rounder showed her presence of mind when the evenly poised game was drifting away from the hands of the Indian women. She dismissed Charlotte Dean to help the visitors win the match by 16 runs and complete a 3-0 whitewash in the ODI series.

Ashwin hailed Deepti Sharma’s presence of mind and felt the ICC should grant a bravery award to players for the aforementioned act. Taking to Twitter, he wrote:

“In fact, that’s a great idea. How about awarding that wicket to the bowler for “presence of mind” under immense pressure and, of course, knowing the social stigma that he/she would have to deal with post doing it. How about a bravery award to go with it too @ICC?”

Earlier, England wicket-keeper Billings had entered a conversation with legendary pacer James Anderson as they took a dig at Deepti Sharma on Twitter. He wrote:

“Imagine how many more wickets you could get, James.”

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“Another bowling hero”- Ashwin hails Deepti Sharma’s heroics at Lord’s

On Saturday, Ashwin took to Twitter to hail Deepti for her heroics at Lord’s. He asked netizens not to trend him on the micro-blogging site but celebrate ‘another hero’. He wrote on Twitter:

“Why the hell are you trending Ashwin? Tonight is about another bowling hero @Deepti_Sharma06.”

The off-spinner had earlier completed a Mankad run out of Jos Buttler in IPL 2019.

Meanwhile, Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur came out in support of Deepti Sharma after the incident. She told Sky Sports:

"We have taken first nine wickets as well. I thought everyone can talk that as well. I will back my player. It was well within the law. It's part of the game. We have not done anything new. It is part of the ICC rules and shows your awareness. I will back my players. At the end of the day, a win is a win."

With the win, the Indian women’s cricket team gave a fitting farewell to Jhulan Goswami, who retired from international cricket after a 20-year-long career.