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Bowlers should be allowed to mankad without being ostracised, feels Dinesh Karthik

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Dinesh Karthik feels that a bowler should be allowed to 'Mankad' a non-striker without being subjected to criticism invoking the ‘Spirit of Cricket'. He further opined that the Spirit of Cricket is a massive grey area and people tend to use it to their advantage when things don’t go their way.

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik has come out in support of the bowlers in the whole ‘Mankad’ debacle which does not seem to end anytime soon. Karthik is of the opinion that the rule should be absolute with no scope for grey areas like subjective use of the Spirit of Cricket. 

"I think every time a batsman crosses (the line before ball is delivered), the bowler should be allowed to create a run out. I don't think there is any spirit of cricket question that is there in that. Because I feel if a batsman nicks a ball and he doesn't walk, where is the spirit then?" Karthik told Cricketnext as part of the Laws of Cricket Challenge. 

The KKR skipper elaborated that it was not fair to subject bowlers to all these kinds of questioning when the rule itself mentions that they can do it. He called out the hypocrisy that no one ever questioned the batsmen on taking advantage by leaving the crease early. 

"I think you need to be fair. You should take it out of the bowler's hand and the umpire's hand. It is either out or a not out, that's all. There is no question of asking the captain, asking the referee and those kind of things.

"I think a batsman at the point of delivery should definitely stay within the crease, as simple as that. If the batsman goes out, then the bowler can dislodge the bails and there should be no question about that.

"Because that means every time the batsman does that, and people feel the bowler, by creating a run out is cheating, then every time a batsman taking 2 metres is cheating again. So why nobody complains about the batsman backing up? That's always been my view."

The Tamil Nadu man further felt that the Spirit of cricket is a massive grey area and people take advantage of it when things don’t go their way. The wicket-keeper batsman rightly mentioned that bowlers should not be judged for ‘Mankading’ as it is well within the law. 

"And I also feel rules need to be watertight and there is no question of... it's either black or white, it's as simple as that. There should be no grey areas for people to use a loophole and find out. Spirit of cricket I feel is a massive grey area that people tend to use whenever they're not comfortable with something that they're doing," he said.

"Then they get a little too personal, they get into the player's personality, start judging people on what they've done. I think that's a bit unfair. I think the rules need to be very clear. It should be out or not out. If it's out or not out, the bowler and the fielding team have the ability to do it every time. As simple as that. If the rule applies to the bowling team, I'm sure when they start to bat the opponent can also do it. It needs to be very simple and clear."

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