The law of Mankading is never short of controversies, ever since its introduction in the sport. Although it is a valid rule, as per the governing laws by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and International Cricket Council (ICC), legendary Indian all-rounder Kapil Dev is not in favour of it.
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The law involves the bowler running out the non-striker for backing up before the release of the ball. Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is famous for this, having done so on a couple of occasions, while he still is in favour of the rule.
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Meanwhile, Dev feels that Mankading is not a proper solution to the issue, as the non-striker backing up is a form of cheating. He feels that some sort of penalty for the batting team could be the ideal law to curb this problem.
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“Both ICC and BCCI should make a rule that if the non-striking batsman leaves the bowling crease early, it will be counted as one run short. Just imagine, if you leave the team needing a run to win a game off the last ball and if the non-striker leaves the crease before the bowler delivers the ball, it is nothing but cheating. It is time that the world governing body takes a good look at it and makes it mandatory to stop this Mankading,” Dev told Sportskeeda in an exclusive interview.
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“If the on-field umpire misses a no-ball call, the third umpire is doing the job to have 100% accuracy in terms of decision making. A siren is used to alert the on-field umpires and why can’t we do the same with those non-striking batsmen, who are always in a rush for runs? I want to see how many batsmen will cross the line if a one-run short rule is made," he appended.
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Dev believes that introducing the rule of penalising runs for the batting team is ideal, as it is highly important to maintain the ethics of the game. “If a batsman is leaving the crease early, a one-run short rule is a must to stop this menace. I am personally not in favour of mankading and had warned batsman in South Africa for leaving the bowling crease early. If someone is Mandaking, I can understand the ethics of the bowlers, where is the ethics of the batsmen?” he wondered.
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“When we call that cricket is a gentleman's game and such unethical stuff is happening, it should be applicable for both bowlers and batsman. The stakes are so high today in cricket and to make it a fair and square thing, you have to make it a level playing field,” he proposed.
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Dev, who had himself Mankaded Peter Kirsten in South Africa in 1992-93, maintained that although it wasn't an ideal incident, the bowlers cannot be held responsible for it. “I was not happy with what happened in South Africa. But today, the stakes are going to be so high, and some batsmen keep leaving the bowling crease early and taking advantage, how can the bowlers - Ashwin or me - be held responsible for mankading? This isn’t right if only the bowlers are penalized. If I am the captain and the opponent is stealing the run like this, I will certainly not ignore it,” he concluded.
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