What is 'Mankad' and how did the term originate

ByAnirudh Suresh, SportsCafe Editor

04/04/2020

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If you’re someone who is an avid follower of cricket, chances are that you would have come across the term ‘mankad’ or ‘mankading’, for the wrong reasons, of course. It is a form of dismissal that inflicts controversy like nothing else, but have you ever wondered how the term originated?

What is a Mankad?

But before going to the origin of the term, it is important to first understand what people actually mean when they say that a batsman was ‘Mankaded’. A ‘Mankad’ or a ‘Mankanding’ is nothing but the act of the bowler running out the batsman at the non-striker’s end when he finds the batsman guilty of leaving the crease even before the delivery stride is complete. In such a case - where the non-striker has left the crease even before the bowler has released the ball - the bowler legally has the right to take the bails off and run the batsman out.

The provision for the same is provided in Law 41.16.1 of MCC, ‘Non-striker leaving his/her ground early’, which states, “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. In these circumstances, the non-striker will be out Run out if he/she is out of his/her ground when his/her wicket is put down by the bowler throwing the ball at the stumps or by the bowler’s hand holding the ball, whether or not the ball is subsequently delivered.”

While bowlers generally tend to ‘warn’ the batsman before eventually taking the bails off when they see the batsmen not respecting the warning, it is to be noted that a warning is only done by the bowler out of respect and, as per the law, he is well within his rights to break the stumps and dismiss the batsman without giving a warning.

How did the term ‘Mankad’ originate?

The term ‘Mankad’ originates from the name of the legendary late Indian bowler Vinoo Mankad, who played Test cricket for India for 13 years, between 1946 and 1959. In 1948, against Australia in Sydney, an aggravated Mankad, annoyed by the sight of the batsman Bill Brown constantly wandering around the crease even before the ball was bowled, despite having already been warned once, took the bails off and ran the batsman out. Incidentally, it became the second such occasion on the same tour, as Mankad had already ran the very same batsman out at the non-striker’s in a warm-up game prior to the series. Appalled by what they thought was ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’ by Mankad, the Australian press coined the term ‘Mankad’. 72 years on, the word is still being used to refer to any incident where the bowler is seen running out the non-striker for refusing to stay inside the crease.

Why is there controversy surrounding ‘Mankad’ dismissals?

“Mankads” divide opinions just for the simple reason that despite it being a part of the rulebook, several cricketers - of the past and present - feel that it’s against the spirit of the game. The argument of the masses - who are generally against Mankading - is that running a batsman out at the non-striker end even before the ball is bowled is a very crooked, unfair and ugly way of getting the batsmen out, purely because of the fact that it is an indirect way of getting the batsman out. But, on the other hand, the people in support of the mode of dismissal believe that it’s a batsman’s responsibility to ensure that he stays inside the crease before the ball is bowled, and should he not adhere to that rule, the bowler is well within his rights to ‘Mankad’ the batsman, given that’s exactly what the law states.

In fact, while the Australian press came down on Vinoo Mankad mercilessly for his act, Sir Donald Bradman batted in favour of the Indian and stated that he never understood why

Mankad was heavily criticized for his actions, given what he did was completely legal.

“For the life of me I cannot understand why (Mankad is being criticized). The laws of cricket make it quite clear that the non-striker must keep within his ground until the ball has been delivered. If not, why is the provision there which enables the bowler to run him out?,” Sir Donald Bradman wrote in his book Farewell to Cricket, in support of his counterpart.

“Mankad was an ideal type, and he was so scrupulously fair that he first of all warned Brown before taking any action. There was absolutely no feeling in the matter as far as we were concerned, for we considered it quite a legitimate part of the game.”

What are some famous Mankading incidents that have happened in history?

Mankading is a very, very uncommon mode of dismissal, as the bowlers tend to not do it owing to the moral aspect attached to it, but we have, over the course of the last 50 years or so, have had some historic moments involving the dismissal. India’s Kapil Dev mankading South Africa’s Peter Kirsten in the “Friendship Series” in 1992 created quite the stir within the cricketing fraternity. Courtney Walsh’s ‘non-Mankad’ of Saleem Jaffar in the 1987 World Cup earnt him a lot of plaudits, while more recently, the incidents involving West Indies’ Keemo Paul in the U19 World Cup in 2016 and Ravichandran Ashwin in the 2018 IPL have sparked debates over whether the mode of dismissal should exist in the first place.