Muttiah Muralitharan suggests five-run penalty for batting sides guilty of transgressing crease
Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan has weighed in on the mankading issue and has called for umpires to inflict a five-run penalty on the team of the batsman guilty of leaving the crease early. Mirroring Ponting, the legendary off-spinner suggested that bowling sides should warn batsmen.
The debate surrounding mankading took social media by storm in IPL 2019 post Ravichandran Ashwin’s controversial dismissal of Jos Buttler and weeks ahead of the forthcoming edition, the issue resurfaced yet again after the Indian off-spinner got in a debate with his brand new head coach at DC, Ricky Ponting, about the dismissal. While Ashwin was dead-clear about his intention to show no mercy for the ‘cheating batsmen’, Ponting, on the other hand, opined that the issue could be weeded out by just imposing penalties.
The duo divided opinions with their comments but now Ponting has a supporter in the form of the legendary Muttiah Muralitharan, who has mirrored the former Aussie skipper’s opinion on the mankading issue. Muralitharan, the most prolific wicket-taker in the sport’s history and the current bowling consultant of the SRH side, has called for umpires to inflict a five-run penalty on the team of the batsman guilty of leaving the crease early, but believes that the batting side needs to be warned first.
“If the bowler should not have the unfair advantage of running out the batsman, the latter too should not have the unfair advantage of proceeding too ahead in the pitch in order to take a run. I believe warnings should be given. Rather than giving the batsman out, five penalty runs should be added to the erring team if an umpire feels that the non-striker or the bowler is taking unfair advantage,” Muralitharan was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
Despite Ashwin’s clear stance on mankading, Ricky Ponting clarified publicly that he will ensure that no Delhi Capitals player inflicts a mankad under his watch. The Australian legend received flak for his blunt comments, which he later clarified in a talk show hosted by Ashwin on YouTube.