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Deepti Sharma run-out controversy, which took place in the third ODI between India and England at Lord's few days back, hasn't doused yet as sundry of reactions from the cricket experts continue to bombard the aisle of International cricket. Where some are strongly advocating Deepti's run out of Charlie Dean, some are calling it against the spirit of the game while bringing the 'Mankad' word into the picture.
India's ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who also found himself in the quagmire of controversy when he had run-out Jos Buttler during the 2019 IPL in the same way, spoke at length on the burning topic, terming this dismissal as 'bowlers revolution'.
"In the beginning, the whole world saw it that way. But now, most of them have started realising that the bowlers didn't commit any crime there. Many of them have started asking why you are asking questions to the innocent instead of asking the person who should be guilty. Only a certain section of the people seems to have a problem with this," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
"In my opinion, they always play the victim card. But whenever there is something new happening, there will be some resistance to change by a few people and that is understandable," the ace spinner added.
Further talking about the incident, Ashwin said: "Yes, I am talking about the run-out at the non-striker's end done by Deepti Sharma dismissing Charlie Dean. I have already spoken enough on this subject already. So let me be short and sweet today. Risk vs Reward. Just like how a batter knows when he steps out of the crease against a spinner or a pacer that a wicketkeeper can dismiss them by stumping. Likewise, a non-striker should also know that he can be dismissed run-out legitimately if they keep stepping out of the crease and taking that extra yard."
"We should teach the kids right from when they are young on this. Because in today's world of competitive cricket, I spoke about this during the Ahmedabad Test match when the pitch issue' was brought up on what was a good pitch. I told 'do not control the narratives'. Because a certain section of people consciously chooses to instill in others how they should think about a certain thing. They control their narratives. There are many articles on this exact subject. In fact, I see this as a bowler's revolution," he stated.
After winning the Lord's ODI, Harmanpreet Kaur had backed her player Deepti, saying whatever happened was "within the rules" and she showed great game awareness.
"If you look around the world, captains have mostly been batters. I don't want to get into the debate on whether they know about it or not. But as the game gets more competitive, it's the duty of the non-striker to stay at the crease. Nobody goes to Charlie Dean and asks her 'why did you leave the crease'. They never ask the non-striker why they leave the crease early. So, people who have power only control the narratives. There is no question about that," said Ashwin.
"So, my full support and kudos to Harmanpreet Kaur more than Deepti Sharma. Because a captain backing the player at the moment is very important. She backed her player and asked back 'what's wrong with that? The non-striker shouldn't have left the crease, right'. If the captain had withdrawn the appeal at that time just because of the boos from the crowd, it would have been a stigma for Deepti Sharma, the bowler, the cricketer and the person," he concluded.
With 17 needed to win, Dean was run out for 47 with the veteran Indian off-spinner deciding to clip the bails during her delivery stride to put an end to their 35-run partnership that gave India 3-0 sweep. It was also Jhulan Goswami’s swansong game.
The MCC Law 41.16.1 states: "If the non-striker is out of his/her ground at any time from the moment the ball comes into play until the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, the non-striker is liable to be run out.
Here's the video..
