Jayawardene hits out at ‘Mankad’ dismissal
Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene says Indian off-spinner Ravi Ashwin's controversial "Mankad" dismissal of Lahiru Thirimanne in Brisbane flouted the spirit of the game.
Thirimanne survived the dismissal during his innings of 62 in Sri Lanka's 51-run one-day international win over India at the Gabba on Tuesday, but only after the Indians decided to withdraw their appeal.
A Mankad is where the bowler whips off the bails at the non-striker's end instead of releasing the ball.
Ashwin legitimately did this when Thirimanne, who was on 44 at the time, left his crease too early.
But after umpires Paul Reiffel and Billy Bowden talked to India's stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag and veteran Sachin Tendulkar, the Indians decided to give Thirimanne a reprieve.
Jayawardene conceded that Thirimanne had strayed from the crease but said Ashwin's decision to Mankad him was wrong.
"I probably felt there was a little bit of fault in our guy to be honest, but I think in the spirit of the game Sehwag did the right thing (withdrawing the appeal)," Jayawardene said.
"I don't play like that — I would give him a warning and make sure he stays in the crease. I think it was a small incident in a crucial game and I think we need to move on."
Jayawardene added: "I would not have taken the bails off in the first place to be honest. I would try and keep it nice and clean and tell the umpires to keep an eye on the guy.
"I think they did the right thing out there in the middle (when) the senior players got together."
A Mankad dismissal is rare. It is named after Vinoo Mankad, who twice dismissed Australian batsman Bill Brown this way in 1947-48.
Brisbane (AFP)
Just what ARE you trying to say Mahela? I think the Indians handled it well, but you should warn your player that he could have been stumped similarly another 3 times for the same ‘straying’!!
Cricket is a GENTLEMAN’S GAME. There is honour and fair play. These days there are too many REFERRERS playig this honorable game only after MONEY.
Nice to see that goodwill and commonsense prevailed among the great players such as Sachin and Verendra.
Lahiru has cheated knowingly taking an undue advantage.. repeatedly…he was the one breaking the spirit of the game not Ashwin n for Mahela to condone him is plain wrong..cheats should be booted out.
I think this is non issue for a starter ! The rules of the games are in place and Ashwin did not break the rules, in-fact Lahiru did by taking undue advantage and was not playing fair – so he is the one who broke the spirit of the game. It is similar to a batsmen being stumped ! will a keeper warn the batsmen before stumping? My concern is with the umpires – did they not know the rules? asking fielding captain to consider is not within umpires jurisdiction – if he had given out and if Sehwag wanted he can call the batsmen. In my opinion ( I am Sri Lankan) the actions of both the umpires and Sehwag only allows to encourage unfair play by the batsmen. There is a reason for this rule / Law to be in place and that’s to deal with such instances? Following rules of the game should not be viewed as against spirit of the game.
What is sad is that Mahela thinks there was “little bit of fault” by Lahiru – No its his fault period – common accept it and be straight about who is right and wrong?
Note what Mankad did was to follow rules and laws of the game and doing so is not considered sportsmanship!
Shewag and Tendulkar knew it was not Cricket ,”hats-up” to those two gentlemen,but Thimanne should have taken that as a warning and should have remained at the crease until bowler delivers.It is a good lesson to all our cricketers to respect the law.(laws of the game )
Indian Fans and Indian Media always come up with excuses when they loose matches, this is not something new for us. this is a small incident whats a big deal about it, Shewag rightlly withdrawn the appeal.
Good luck gus for the next game.
Glad to see the Indians handled the situation well! The spirit of cricket was upheld… Personally i blame Thirimanne.. even after the warnings were given he still kept straying out,,, he was in a dream world!
The rule is an absurdity. If the bowler has not stepped on his back leg as the first part of his action the dead ball rule should apply because until the ball is delivered the previous ball bolwed should apply. The new rule states that if he has put his back leg on the ground in his delivery stride then he has to deliver the ball and cannot stop midway and run the non striker out. There does not seem to be an in between. In one the previous ball has rendered the next dead till the ball is bowled in which case the batsman cannot be run out (verb)
The law says that the warning to batsmen should be “official” and this meaning both umpires need to be consulted and on the same page. The Indian’s were sporty and their fair play should not be taken for a weakness. We tend to defend our players no matter what and this is nothing but arrogance. Mahela although a senior player is far from a world class leader or captain. He needs to take these matters seriously and instill some discipline into our young lads for the betterment of the game and our reputation.
I honestly believe that batsman should not get advantage out of it, its really conflict with law of the cricket and right time for the ICC governing body to draw legitimate law over this issue as favour of bowlers,
It must be noted that in spite of reprive being granted to Thirimanne he continued to stray off the crease before the ball was released. It is sad to say that he had not learnt his lesson and did not himself have in him the spirit of the game.
Thirimanna committed same mistake even after he was legitimately out and his captains remarks that the warning should have been official is nonsensical. This error cannot be tolerated in a big final and in this case umpires acted to keep the spirit of the game. Great victory on the day of mourning with black ribbons round the sleeves to condole late Ranil Abenayake. Thirimanna had better stick to the basics.
these are basic rules that should be followed. even after been called back he still went wondering out of his crease before the ball was delivered. if he was ‘Mankad’ for the second time what would Mahela say?
hopefully he (Thirimanne) will not repeat this again! (Once bitten twice shy?)
Mahela is talking all nonsense.
India should not have withdrawn their appeal. That they did this was a commendable gesture but also a little stupid.
Also calling cricket a gentleman’s game does not mean that this cannot be done. It is within the rules and is therefore gentlemanly to have done.
I also believe that Mahela would have been better of refraining talking on that, Ashvin is still a little brat he will learn as he moves on… unless otherwise you are a Great West Indian by birth you don’t do this right since your young age and you never gonna expect a Great Walsh type in indian players… lets get our guy trained properly and let India to take care of their naughty baby (which they have in numbers). anyway high regards to Sachin the legend and Viru !
Watch the video where Mahela speaks. He did not want this kind of controversy created. He said “please, let’s move on”. He also acknowledged that there was a mistake on the part of the batsman too. What Ashwin did was wrong in the spirit of the game, but according to cricket laws he had every right do it. Question was whether he warned the batsman through umpires before doing that.
He didn’t “hit out” at anything.