Even some of their jokes become news, Says Ravichandran Ashwin After Speaking To Ricky Ponting Following His 'Mankad' Comments

Delhi Capitals off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday revealed he has already spoken to head coach Ricky Ponting over phone, hinting at the Mankad discussion that was all over the news recently in the lead up to Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

Ponting recently turned a number of heads with his comments about Mankading. The former Australia skipper had said he would advise Delhi Capitals players against Mankading in IPL 2020. He brought up the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ argument and stressed no Delhi Capitals player will run a non-striker out via Mankading.

To everyone’s surprise, he had also said that he’d have a “hard conversation” with Ravichandran Ashwin over the idea of ‘mankading’. The legendary cricketer was slammed by a number of fans on social media for the comments with many even calling his action to call out a player of his own team publicly a naive move.

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Well, Ravichandran Ashwin has spoken to Ponting already although it seems the ‘hard conversation’ part is not done yet. The ace spinner, who is gearing up to play for Delhi for the first time, stated that Ponting had said he was going to have a chat with him after he reached the UAE. Ashwin revealed he had an interesting chat with his head coach but did not reveal any details about the conversation.

“Ricky Ponting hasn’t yet reached (Dubai). After he comes, we will sit for a chat with him. He said he wants to have a conversation. We have already spoken over the phone. It was a very interesting chat,” Ravichandran Ashwin said in his new ‘Hello Dubaiahh?’ YouTube show.

“What happens sometimes is Australians’ messages in English get lost in translation and reach us with a different meaning. Even some of their jokes become news. That’s what it is and next week I will reveal a bit more about my conversation with Ricky,” he added.

Ravichandran Ashwin had faced criticism from several quarters during IPL 2019 by mankading Rajasthan Royals’s English star Jos Buttler. The dismissal turned out to be decisive as Royals who were cruising at that stage thanks to Buttler went on to suffer a defeat.

In the wake of the incident, he was berated by several fans as well as cricketers. The mode of dismissal is completely within the laws of the game but is widely considered as against the spirit of the game.

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