England batsman Jos Buttler was at the centre of a huge controversy on his return to the IPL on Monday after being run out at the non-striker’s end.
Buttler, playing for the Rajasthan Royals, was going well on 69 off 43 balls as his side chased the 184/4 set by the Kings XI Punjab, when he had his bails removed by Indian bowler Ravi Ashwin.
The dismissal, known as a 'Mankad' after the Indian cricketer who famously used the tactic to dismiss an Australian batsman in 1947, occurs when a bowler sees the batsman at the non-striker’s end outside of his crease before the ball has been bowled and stops his delivery to run him out.
The technique is lawful, but is often considered to be against the spirit of the game.
Bowlers will usually warn a batsman at the non-striking end at least once before running them out, and tend to only do so if the batsman is deliberately trying to gain an advantage by moving further down the wicket to shorten the distance he has to run to the other end.
However, Ashwin did not seem to warn Buttler, and pulled out of his delivery at the final moment, appearing to wait for Buttler to leave his crease at walking pace before whipping off the bails, leaving the Englishman furious.
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Buttler was run-out in similar fashion during a series-deciding ODI against Sri Lanka at Edgbaston in 2014.
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