No excuse for batters leaving crease early unfairly, weighs in Ian Bishop on the mankad debate

09/26/2022

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Ian Bishop has expressed support for dismissals by mankad stating that batsmen need to be taught to stay in their crease and cannot be excused for taking off early. He went on to cite the examples of Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson as great ambassadors of the art of running between wickets.

The debates around mankad seem to be never-ending with the method of dismissal making it a habit to prop up in the spotlight every few months owing to some incident or the other. The technique was first brought into play on the big stage in 1947-48 against Australia by Indian spinner Vinoo Mankad when he dislodged the bails at the non-striker's end while in the process of delivering to get the wicket of Bill Brown after the batter had left his crease before the ball left Mankad's hand. Since, mankading has been embroiled in controversy perpetually even though it was made a part of the cricket rule books, with only nine such dismissals recorded in international cricket history.

Recently, the rule regarding this unorthodox form of dismissal was moved by the International Cricket Council from the 'unfair play' section to the 'run-out' section, giving it further validity. Taking inspiration from the same, spinner Deepti Sharma did not shy away from executing mankad when given an opportunity in the third Women's ODI against England at the Lord's on Saturday, scalping Charlotte Dean's wicket to force England into a 16-run defeat. While a few cricketers have called out the practice as unethical, a plethora of experts has sided with Sharma with the latest of them being Ian Bishop.

"Running between the wickets is a skill. Batters are trying to anticipate bowler ball release to get a quick start like in a sprint race or they are careless or they are trying to gain an unfair advantage, or just plain lazy. Either way it’s no excuse," the legendary West Indian bowler tweeted.

The 54-year-old referred to Indian talisman Virat Kohli and Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson's manner of backing up as the way to be, urging young cricketers to take inspiration from the duo.

"Plain and simple. Keep your eyes on the bowler and ball all the way through to ball release like Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson and these arguments go away. Let’s teach our young kids to back up like these two great players," Bishop said.

Sharma's antics had helped India register a 3-0 clean sweep of England, ensuring the perfect farewell for pacer Jhulan Goswami.