Sunil Gavaskar Suggests New Name For Mankad Dismissal, Wants It To Be Named After Former Australian Batsman
Published - 07 Oct 2020, 09:34 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:35 AM
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Mankading has once again become the talk of the town after Delhi Capitals spinner Ravichandran Ashwin decided not to Mankad Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Aaron Finch earlier this week.
Finch was well out of the crease and Ashwin had an easy opportunity to send him back but the off-spinner decided to spare him with just a warning. Perhaps the fear of backlash from the cricketing fraternity as well as from head coach Ricky Ponting stopped the spinner from Mankading the batsman.
During last year’s IPL, Ravichandran Ashwin was slammed by the cricketing fraternity after he had dismissed Jos Buttler in the same manner. And before the start of the ongoing season, Ponting had made it clear that he did not want any Delhi Capitals’ player to do a Mankad on the field.
A new name for Mankad:
Amidst all these, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar believes that Mankad is not the right name for the unpopular mode of dismissal. As soon as Ashwin decided not to dismiss Finch, the legendary batsman ended had up saying “Ashwin tried to Brown Finch” on the television.
And recently, he explained the reason behind it. Sunil Gavaskar has said that it was Bill Brown, the Australian who did the mistake of leaving the crease early and that Vinoo Mankad just did what he had to do according to the rule book. The former cricketer-turned-commentator expressed disappointment that even Indians and Indian media use the name of legendary Vinoo Mankad for something which is considered “unsportsmanlike” in the cricketing world.
“Vinoo Mankad is a legend of Indian cricket, one of the great all-rounders who has won matches for India. And you use his name for, what is looked at by the cricketing world, as unsportsmanlike behaviour that’s not acceptable to me.
“I don’t want an Indian legend’s name to be disparaged. It baffles me why so many in the Indian media keep using that word as if they don’t have any respect for any Indian legends.
“As Indians, we should be the last to encourage such usage. That’s why yesterday on television, I said Ashwin tried to Brown him. Because Bill Brown was at fault in 1947 and not Vinoo Mankad,” Sunil Gavaskar told The Indian Express.
He then went on to slam Finch for committing the mistake which his compatriot did back in 1947.
“The reason why this has become a moral issue is this so-called spirit of cricket, which is mythical. Just like the line the Australians say they never cross on the field. Even that is mythical; no one knows where that line is. It’s beyond me why getting the batsmen out at the bowler’s end one who is trying to take undue advantage by stepping out be considered unsportsmanlike.
“The first thing that struck me when I saw that was when will the Aussies learn? Because it happened to Bill Brown in 1947 and we are in 2020; they still haven’t learnt. The simple thing is you have to look at the bowler and move out when he releases. You can’t look at the batsman, like Finch was doing and walk out of the crease. The law is clear. It’s as simple as that,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
