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‘The onus is on the batsman to stick to the crease until the ball has been delivered. That's the best way to look into it’
Javagal Srinath, the former India pacer and current ICC match referee has given his take on the 'Mankad' dismissal, saying that if a non-striker is taking undue advantage by venturing out of his crease, then he [Srinath] is fine if the batsman is run-out.
‘Mankading’ has come into discussion again since Delhi Capitals' head coach Ricky Ponting said he will talk to spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to not resort to the controversial style of dismissal in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Last year, Ashwin, who was with Kings XI Punjab at the time, had sent Rajasthan Royals' Buttler back to the pavilion by 'Mankading' him. The dismissal sparked a huge debate on social media as to whether the dismissal is in the spirit of the game or not.
"The bowler is focusing on the batsman as he bowls. For the batsman at the non-striker's end to stick to his crease till the ball is released is no big deal, because he's not batting, nor is he thinking of anything else. So the batsman shouldn't leave the crease and the bowler should focus on just bowling and the batsman he's going to bowl to," Srinath told Ashwin on the latter's YouTube channel.
"If the batsman is taking undue advantage, and if he's involved in a runout, I am fine. I am perfectly okay with that. The rules have been set and reiterated many times. It is not about T20, but every format of the game. The onus is on the batsman to stick to the crease until the ball has been delivered. That's the best way to look into it," he added.
The former India pacer also believes that the "spirit of the game" should not be talked about when presenting a case for ‘Mankading’. Srinath also said that the non-striker cannot venture out of his crease as the bowler gets ready to deliver the ball.
"Don't look for any empathy. Don't invoke the spirit of the game. The spirit of the game is with the runner. He cannot move out of the crease. If he is doing it, he's not invoking the spirit of the game itself. I would believe that the batsman should stick to the crease. Even if the batsman has inadvertently left the crease, and it happens to be the last ball of the match where there's a run-out chance with the batsman in by an inch, but he has already taken three-foot forward before the ball has been delivered, the result is unfair," Srinath said.
"One of the teams will probably pay for it. I would like to see a balance here. I would want the batsman to stay, be more careful. Look into the arm of the bowler and let himself go only after the ball is released. It cannot be that he's gaining four to five feet advantage every ball. In T20, every ball matters. How many games go to the last ball," he added.
As per the laws of the game, "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."
The 13th edition of the IPL will be played from September 19- November 10 and it will be staged across three venues (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah) in the UAE.