IPL News: Ravichandran Ashwin responds to James Anderson's criticism over 'mankading'

Kings XI Punjab captain Ravichandran Ashwin has come out with a strong reply to the actions of England fast bowler James Anderson. The ace off-spinner stirred a strong debate in the cricketing fraternity as he mankaded Rajasthan Royals' opening batsman Jos Buttler in the ongoing edition of Indian Premier League.

Experts were divided about the incident with some of them seeing it as an action against the spirit of the game while few felt it was well within the rules of the game. Buttler's national teammates were furious about the incident as it changed the course of the match. To add to that, Anderson responded uniquely to the whole controversy by shredding Ashwin's photograph while discussing the mankading incident on BBC Sounds.

EXCLUSIVE: @jimmy9 give us his unique take on @josbuttler’s controversial run out last week...More rows should be settled like this.Full story on this week’s #Tailenders https://t.co/YOQ4PMSwiu pic.twitter.com/hYCPpdSqJm

— Greg James (@gregjames) March 31, 2019

The Indian off-spinner responded to this in an interview. Reacting to it, he was quoted saying:

"Today Jimmy Anderson might feel that whatever I did was wrong. Maybe, tomorrow he might end up doing it [a ‘Mankad’]. Who knows? It is a question of perception of right and wrong."

"I don’t think in this case it is necessary because it is in the law and I did. Everybody who knows me, it is very clear (to them) that I don’t do anything that is illegal."

"Even my team has stood behind me since then. A lot many players have come to me and said whatever I did was absolutely right."

He also touched upon MCC's initial statement of confirming the legality of the dismissal to which they later refrained saying that the spinner by delaying his bowling action has deceived the batsman. Ashwin said:

"There have even been debates about whether I waited for him to walk out of the crease. But, what people don’t understand is that I hadn’t even reached the crease and he started walking away. Once your action is complete, you cannot go down and hit the stumps. I just feel that the way people have reacted means bowlers are not going to want to do it again."