Former Sri Lanka spinner and Hyderabad's bowling consultant, Muttiah Muralitharan has said that a five-run penalty would be an ideal outcome instead of 'Mankading'.
Mankading has been one of the most talk-about topics in the Indian T20 League since the former Kings XI Punjab bowler, Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Rajasthan Royal's Jos Buttler at the striker's end last year. Both players have been quite vocal about the incident, and while the method is considered 'against the spirit of the game', there's no written rule whether a bowler can't practise that method in a game.
Speaking about it, Muralitharan has said that if a bowler can't dismiss a batsman before completing a delivery, the batting side, too, can't have the undue advantage. To it, he said that a five-run penalty can be an ideal solution instead.
“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.
The 48-year-old former spinner also talked about his side's selection given that Hyderabad have three wicketkeepers.
“When Bairstow comes (who is playing in England against Australia currently) we will have to see who will keep the wickets. He is also an opener. Saha is very experienced while Sreevats Goswami is also there. It’s a nice headache to have. But I guess there are 14 matches in the league stage, everybody will get chance,” said Muralitharan.
Meanwhile, Delhi's coach, Ricky Ponting delivered a subtle warning to Ashwin and said exactly what Muralitharan had suggested. "I think there’s ways that you can actually stop batsmen cheating like that. If the bowler was to stop, and the batsman was a foot out of his crease for instance, why don’t you just penalise him some runs or something? Then they won’t do it again," he said.
Feature image courtesy: Twitter /Hyderabad
