ICC T20 World Cup 2016: When Ravichandran Ashwin gave Hardik Pandya a cheeky piece of advice

Team India pulled off a thrilling one-run win against Bangladesh in the ICC T20 World Cup 2016 game against Bangladesh in Bengaluru. Bangladesh were cruising along towards the end when suddenly there was a twist in the tale as India’s emerging all-rounder Hardik Pandya managed to defend 11 runs in the last over. Three batsmen got out in the last three deliveries as India came from nowhere to win the game dramatically and keep their hopes alive to qualify for the semifinal.

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who won the man-of-the-match award for his wonderful spell of 2 for 20 in his 4 overs, admitted that he gave Pandya a cheeky idea in the last over when the match was precariously placed.

"I actually gave him a cheeky idea to try and mankad at the end. I know we might have got a bit of flak, but why not!", quipped Ashwin after the match with a smile on his face.

Indian cricketer Vinoo Mankad, during the tour to Australia in the 1947-48 season, ran Australian player Bill Brown out in the second Test of the tour. He brought down the stumps at the non-striker's end during his run-up while the batsman at that end was out of his crease.

From then, this way of getting the non-striker out has been infamously known as mankading. Cricket connoisseurs over the years have been criticizing the mode of dismissal and they have labelled it as something against the spirit of the game, but there have been several instances of cricketers trying it out.

Ashwin has been quite vocal in his support for mankading

Whenever a bowler gets a batsman out that way, he receives a lot of flak. However, cricket’s greatest batsman Sir Donald Bradman supported Vinoo Mankad for his action and wrote in his autobiography, “For the life of me, I can't understand why [the press] questioned his sportsmanship. The laws of cricket make it quite clear that the non-striker must keep within his ground until the ball has been delivered. If not, why is the provision there which enables the bowler to run him out? By backing up too far or too early, the non-striker is very obviously gaining an unfair advantage."

Ashwin has been quite vocal in his support for the rule of mankading and he even appealed for one against Sri Lankan batsman Lahiru Thirimanne which the skipper Virender Sehwag withdrew. Ashwin warned Thirimanne before doing that.

He even supported the West Indian under-19 bowler Keemo Paul who was severely criticized for mankading a batsman in the recently concluded ICC Under 19 World Cup. So it will be interesting to see whether Ashwin repeats the act in the future or not.

However, his captain would also have to support him. The rules clearly suggest that the bowler has every right do so. It’s just the matter of sportsmanship that makes this issue of mankading a contentious one.

India, however, didn’t need to ‘mankad’ anyone at the end as they pulled off a thriller through a combination of luck, composure and skill.