Mankading debate spurts again as Oman abides by the 'rule book'

The debate around the spirit of cricket is back again, this time at the sidelines of the World T20 qualifiers. The controversial issue of mankading has reared its head once again, even as the International Cricket Council has sought the consent and opinion of associate teams on this issue.

‘Mankading’, is a term where the bowler can run the non-striking batsman out for venturing out of the crease before the bowler has delivered the ball. It is, however, interesting to note that while most of the teams have decided not to resort to this medium, Oman has no such exceptions.

According to ESPN Cricinfo the Asian Cricket Council had conveyed this to the four Associate teams and specifically instructed them not to mankad. However, a huge controversy erupted when Oman's Aamir Kaleem mankaded Hong Kong's Mark Chapman in the tournament.

Oman does not blink

Oman captain Sultan Ahmed was boisterous and said that they just went by the rule book, and if a situation arose again, they would do it again.

However, ICC match referee Andy Pycroft officiating in the tournament has told the Oman team management that all the other participating team have decided not to mankad batsman. Oman stuck to their guns, and they only agreed to issue a warning to the batsman before mankading.

When asked what he made of the debate around the spirit of cricket, Ahmed even posed questions to the batsmen and asked them to follow the spirit.

"It is not us who are in breach of the spirit," he said. "It is the batsmen who is violating the spirit by gaining yards even before the bowler has bowled. When they can take advantage, why is not dubbed as cheating."

Oman will lock horns with Ireland today in Dharamshala in what will their first ever appearance in an ICC tournament.

Oman surprised many fancied teams in the qualifying rounds as they upstaged, Canada, Netherlands, Afghanistan and Namibia.

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin too has been a vocal supporter of Mankading, and it will be interesting to see how India and the other teams react to this incident. Just when the ICC World T20 seemed to be missing a spark, this debate between the spirit of the game and rules of the game promise to spice up the tournament.

William Porterfield, the Ireland captain has already made it clear that it (mankading) was not how he wanted to play cricket.