With most of the cricket world coming down hard on West Indies U19 team’s ‘disgraceful’ method of qualifying for the World Cup quarter-finals in their match against Zimbabwe on Tuesday, Indian spinner Ravi Ashwin has taken a firm stand in favour of the under-fire young Caribbean bowler Keemo Paul.
Zimbabwe needed only three runs in the 50th over with one wicket in hand for a place in the knockout round, till the bowler broke the stumps without entering his delivery stride as last man Richard Ngarava stood a few steps outside his popping crease, with his bat resting barely outside the line.
The dismissal was perfectly legal, but the softness of it in such a crucial time has made many hearts bleed for Zimbabwe’s exit.
The batsman had not been given any warning before the ‘Mankading’, but Ashwin feels the Windies bowler should be deemed a hero. The act was done within the rules of cricket, as Ashwin said. He also said that the batsman would be deemed a hero for a last ball six and a bowler should not be deemed a villain for a similar act.
Not only satisfied at that, Ashwin went on a spree of tweets, explaining why he was in support of the West Indies’ act, and why he thought more bowlers around the world should be taking wickets by Mankading.
He said that Zimbabwe’s manner of exit was cruel, but that the last batsman should have kept sure that his bat was not out of the crease. He also said that since bowlers were not allowed to overstep, batsmen should not be allowed to gain an extra inch either.
On the matter of warning the batsman for Mankading, he replied that a batsman does not need to warn a bowler that he is going to hit him for a six.
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