India Women clean sweep England Women in the 3-match ODI series on the host’s home turf. India arrived at Lords for the final game with a series-winning lead of 2-0. The game was paramount for Indian Women as they were all set to bid farewell to their ace bowler, Jhulan Goswami. Jhulan’s two-decade-long career was officially coming to an end. Harmanpreet Kaur led girls were determined to give their legend a perfect goodbye.
India did not bat well in the first innings. They could manage to get only 169 runs on board. However, they fought back hard. Indian bowlers displayed terrific performance to get England’s half side back to the hut under 60 runs. However, Charlie Dean held her ground till the end. She was about to guide her team to victory. But what Deepti Sharma did happened next was about to take the entire cricket fraternity by storm.
Deepti Sharma mankads Charlie Dean at the non-striker’s end
Indian spinner, Deepti Sharma was called in to bowl the 44th over. She was observing Dean’s movements closely as Dean left the crease before Deepti could release the ball. The spinner exhibited her presence of mind, pulled up on the delivery, and clipped the bails at the non-striker’s end. Dean was nowhere in the frame as she left the crease early. “OUT” was displayed on the big screen and England lost the match. The crowd and the entire England camp were stunned. Dean broke down in tears as she walked back.
A massive debate has erupted ever since the incident took place. There has been an uproar on social media, and the internet is divided. Some have slammed the bowler for violating the “Spirit of Cricket,” while others have declared it well within the rules. Finally, Deepti Sharma has come forward and broken her silence on the entire controversy. She explained that they planned the mankad as Dean was continuously violating the crease limits. She even claimed that they warned the batter and raised the issue to the umpires as well.
“It was our plan because she was leaving the crease repeatedly. We have even warned her. So, whatever we did was according to the rules and regulations. We had told the umpires too. But she was still doing it, so we had no other option.”
The “Spirit of Cricket” debate finds its lost voice again
The Spirit of cricket debate has been long-going. Every now and then it erupts and settles down. The last time it broke out was when Ravichandran Ashwin mankaded Jos Buttler in IPL. Ashwin defended himself and said that there should not be any debate over things that are done well within the rules. He also said that mankad is simply a bowler’s presence of mind and that the batters should stay vigilant of their actions.
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) which regulates the laws of cricket, issued a statement and said that the Mankad rule will now officially be placed under normal run-out law.
“MCC this year announced amendments to the laws of cricket to move being run out at the non-striker’s end, from law 41 unfair play, to law 38 run out”
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