"They always play the victim card" - Ravichandran Ashwin slams Deepti Sharma's critics

Ravichandran Ashwin tore through Deepti Sharma's critics on Sunday, October 2, calling them out for "controlling the narratives" and "playing the victim card."

Sharma's run out of Charlie Dean in the third India women-England women ODI at Lord’s on September 24 reignited the debate on the undefined "Spirit of Cricket" and the morality of running out a non-striker before bowling the ball, despite the latter being a clearly-defined law in the International Cricket Council's books.

Ashwin, who himself has affected such run-outs multiple times on the big stage, spoke in detail on the subject on his YouTube channel. He said that initially, most of the world saw Sharma's actions as a "crime". The off-spinner lamented that although opinion is changing now, there's still a "section of people" who are resisting.

He explained:

"Seeing people always as if they have committed a crime. In the beginning, the whole world saw it that way. But now, most of them have started realizing that the bowlers didn't commit any crime there. Many of them have started asking why are you asking questions to the innocent instead of asking the person who should be guilty.

"Only a certain section of people seem to have a problem with this. In my opinion, they always play the victim card. But whenever there's something new happening, there will be some resistance by a few people and that's understandable."

Ashwin compared the debate on social media to a similar flare-up after the two-day Test between India and England on a spin-friendly wicket in Ahmedabad last year. He said the "section of people" always try to impose their opinions on people and even called the dismissal a part of the "bowlers' revolution" in the sport.

Ashwin added:

"I spoke about this during the Ahmedabad Test when the 'pitch issue' was brought up on what was a good pitch. I said, "Do not control the narratives" because a certain section of people consciously chooses to instill in others how they should think about certain things. They control their narratives...

"In fact, I see this as a bowlers' revolution. If you look around the world, captains have mostly been batters. I don't want to get into the debate on whether they know about it or not, but as the game gets competitive it's the duty of the non-striker to stay at the crease."

Although Ashwin hasn't taken any names, it's the English cricket fraternity that has been the most upset about the dismissal. England Test captain Ben Stokes recently criticized reputed commentator Harsha Bhogle, who had said the debate had cultural and colonial roots, where the English feel entitled to decide the rules of the sport.

"My full support and Kudos to Harmanpreet Kaur more than Deepti Sharma" - Ravichandran Ashwin

Ashwin also praised skipper Harmanpreet Kaur for backing Sharma in the post-match presentation, saying had she withdrawn the appeal, the latter would have been stigmatized for life. He said:

"Nobody goes to Charlie Dean and asks her, 'Why did you leave the crease?' They never ask the non-striker why they leave the crease early. So, people who have power only control the narratives. There's no question about that.

"So, my full support and kudos to Harmanpreet Kaur more than Deepti Sharma because a captain backing the player at that moment is very, very important. She backed her player and asked back, 'What's wrong with that, the non-striker shouldn't have left the crease, right?'"

Ashwin added:

"If the captain had withdrawn the appeal just because of the boo from the crowd, it would have been a stigma for Deepti Sharma, the bowler, the cricketer, and the person. She would have lived the rest of her life with that."

Interestingly, the first time Ashwin ran a non-striker out in 2012 against Sri Lanka, the then-stand-in captain Virender Sehwag retracted the appeal.

Ashwin is currently playing in the three-T20I series against South Africa, the second match of which will begin at 7 pm IST on Sunday in Guwahati.