After making an unwanted appearance in the recently concluded ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, the ‘mankading’ controversy is back to haunt cricket once again. This time, it chose the 2016 Asia Cup qualifiers as its breeding ground.
In the 2nd match of the qualifiers, Oman’s Aamir Kaleem was guilty of committing an unsportsmanlike act when he dismissed Hong Kong batsman Mark Chapman in this manner, This is the second prominent ‘mankading’ incident in recent times after Keemo Paul of the West Indies Under-19 team had done the same to Zimbabwe’s Richard Ngarava during the Under-19 World Cup.
Batting first, Oman had posed a formidable target of 181 for their opponents to chase. In reply, Hong Kong got off to a flying start and were 77 for 2 in 8.4 overs. Oman’s 34-year-old left-arm spinner Aamir Kaleem ran in to bowl to Babar Hayat but stopped when he realised that non-striker Mark Chapman was outside his crease.
Without a second’s hesitation, Kaleem quickly removed the bails forcing the umpire to give poor Chapman out. Even though the batsman was only on 8 at the time, the dismissal may have had an impact on the match as Hong Kong lost by a mere 5 runs.
Another shocking aspect of the whole episode was that the bowler didn’t warn the batsman at the non-striker’s end even once before he went on to ‘mankad' him. Hong Kong coach Simon Cook was furious about the events that transpired and termed Aamir Kaleem’s decision as a ‘cowardly’ option.
With instances of ‘mankading’ in cricket occurring much more frequently in recent times, it may be time for the ICC to revisit the laws relating to this infamous mode of dismissal and come up with some changes.
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