Australian batters have found it really difficult to face Ravichandran Ashwin on turning wickets in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It’s not just about his unplayable deliveries, the opponent batters also have to make sure that they don’t leave their crease on the non-striker’s end in order to save themselves from ‘Mankading’ when the premier off-spinner is bowling.
Ashwin gave Steve Smith a Mankad warning on Day 3 of the second test that made Virat Kohli burst into laughter.
Ravichandran Ashwin intimidates Steve Smith with ‘Mankad’ warning
Team India’s premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin always makes sure that it’s not just his deadly spinning deliveries which threatens the opponent batters as they have to face another battle against his deadly tactics.
Ashwin, who once dismissed England’s batter Jos Buttler in IPL using mankading as he was found backing up a bit too much on the non-striker’s end, warned Steve Smith for the same on the third day of the second test at the Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi.
During the 15th over of Australian innings, Ashwin began his run-up to bowl against Aussie batter Marnus Labuschagne but suddenly stopped himself just before the release of the delivery. Steve Smith realised that he had backed up way too much on the non-striker’s end and immediately ran back into his crease to save his wicket.
While this was a threatening moment for Steve Smith, it became a moment of humor for Virat Kohli who was standing in the slip position and he started bursting into laughter. Both Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith too couldn’t hold on as they smiled after the incident.
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Steve Smith after getting back into his crease gestured a thumbs-up towards Ashwin as he didn’t actually run him out. Ashwin had given one such warning to Labuschagne as well in the previous innings. Ravichandran Ashwin has remained quite vocal about ‘Mankading’ as he has said time and again that he won’t shy away from using this mode of dismissal to get rid of opponent batters.
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Mankading was formally included in the ‘Run out’ section by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) last year but the mode of dismissal still remains debatable as a few modern-day cricketers still don’t consider it as an ethical mode of dismissal.
The spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja who shared all the 10 wickets between themselves dismissed the Australian side for a total of 113 runs on Day 3 as the Australian team kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
