On the eve of Ashwin’s 100th Test at Dharmshala, I would like to go back in memory to ascertain of the interesting thoughts that he has come up with. Ravichandran Ashwin and The Hundred.
A few months ago, there was an interesting article in www.espncricinfo.com about Ashwin’s desire to disallow the non-striker from backing up. Other news agencies would have also picked up this thread without a doubt. Ashwin’s desire of not allowing the non-striker to backup, does it make sense? Is it even possible? Let us discuss
Batsmen are in a cocoon
The game is heavily loaded in favour of the batsmen. With short boundaries, lack of bite on the wickets, field restrictions, limit number of overs a bowler can bowl in the short format, archaic LBW laws and various other batsman friendly rules have ensured that the batsmen is taken care of. It is the bowler who is made to pay a very heavy price not only because of the above mentioned rules but also because of the not so friendly attitude towards them by the authorities who run the game. Mind you, bowling and especially fast bowling requires tremendous amount of effort. There are lots of ODIs and T20 where runs per over in excess of 7 are scored without the batsmen sweating. Technology has helped the bowlers when it comes to stumping and runout but more is required.
Hence, it not only makes sense to restore the balance but it is the most crucial change that the game requires and requires rather immediately. Ideas can come from everywhere but when it comes from an international player, it will add a lot of value.
Ashwin’s idea to restore balance
Ashwin wants to restore the balance between bat and the ball albeit to a little extent. He wants to disallow the runs scored off any delivery in which the non-striker backs up. He also wants a free ball to be allowed for the bowler just like the free hit for batsmen. There is also the existing rule of “Mankad”. This is something most of the cricketing fraternity frowns upon.
I am completely in favour of not allowing the non-striker to backup. Not a few feet, not a few centimetres. The non-striker must not move an inch before the ball is bowled. Infact, I will go on to say that the non-striker must not go out of the crease until the batsman plays at the ball or the ball passes the batsman. However, this is impossible to monitor. Let us stick to not allowing the non-striker to leave the crease before the ball is bowled.
Case for not allowing the non-striker to leave the crease
A bowler is not allowed to step over the line. It is called a no-ball and rightly so. Allowing the bowler, especially, the fast bowler to bowl from anywhere will not only make a mockery of the game but it can also lead to serious injury. Hence, the bowlers are required not to cross the popping crease. Let us imagine another scenario of the keeper warning the batsman not to venture out of the crease else he will stump the batsman out. Is a batsman entitled so such a warning? Certainly not. The keeper is expected to whip the bails off if he sees the batsman out of the crease.
A non-striker leaving the crease before the ball is bowled to gain an advantage, especially when it comes to tight run, is tantamount to cheating. We all know that tampering the ball is cheating. Non-striker backing up must be treated on par with ball tampering. A lot of games, mainly the short format ones are won with the margin not being that high. A good batsman can come on strike easily when a non-regular batsman is on strike. A batsman who is having a tough time against a particular bowler, will be able to escape to safely quite easily. A batsman who fancies playing a specific bowler but is at the non-striker’s end can come on strike if he cheats a little.
IPL instance
An interesting scene happened in The IPL between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals. Ashwin who is now famous for running out Buttler in last year’s IPL at the non-striker’s end, did not runout Aaron Finch in that game. Instead, he just stopped bowling, looked at Aaron Finch and then returned to his bowling mark. Ashwin wanted to send a warning to the batsman that he must not go out of the crease before the ball is bowled. Should Ashwin have warned Finch? Wasn’t Finch taking advantage?
The game situation
It was a high scoring game. Delhi Capitals had piled up a mammoth 196 in their allotted 20 overs. An asking rate close to 10 an over is a tall order in any format of the game. Royal Challengers Bangalore will have to score more than a run every delivery. They cannot afford to waste too many deliveries and as such must always be on their toes for a quick single. This will result in the non-striker taking undue advantage of the perceived breaking the spirit of the game of not “mankading” the non-striker while he is in the process of cheating.
Aaron Finch, the RCB opener in his hurry to get back to the batting side, went out of the crease far too early. If one looks at the picture, he was at the least 2-3 feet away from the crease when Ashwin was still in his bowling stride. If he had continued, he would have reached half the pitch by the time the batsman gets to play the ball. In the case of a tight single, Finch would have easily reached the batsman end assuming that it was his call. As a result the opposing team would have lost an opportunity to take a wicket. This is plain cheating.
Ashwin’s warning to Finch
Ashwin instead of running out Finch, ended up warning the batsman. This is ridiculous. Presumably, he has been influenced by Ricky Ponting. Ponting, the saint who upholds the spirit of the game at all times that suits him. It seems Ponting seems to have threatened Ashwin not to repeat the Buttler incident again this year in the IPL. As we have seen before, Ponting is the worst offender of the spirit of cricket. He played in an era when the Australians were known the world over as the Ugly Aussies. I have given links to his various upholding of the spirit of the game in the other article.
To top this, there was an article in news.com.au written by James Matthey that Ashwin was rather afraid of Ricky Ponting. This really made me chuckle. He is someone who is defending Ricky Ponting who is the epitome of betraying the spirit of the game regularly. He seems to suggest that Ashwin will have to play wthin the rules prescribed by Ponting. Fortunately, Ashwin does not seem to be too bothered about Ponting and what would he do if he runs out another batsman at the non-striker’s end. He has since tweeted with the following comments.
Ashwin’s warning
“Let’s make it clear!! First and final warning for 2020. I am making it official and don’t blame me later on.
“@AaronFinch5 and I are good buddies btw.”
Kapil Dev supports running out non-strikers
One of the greats of the game, Kapil Dev, has come out in support of Ashwin and in favour of running batsmen out if they are backing up too far. This is something good to see. Likewise more players will have to support this so that this type of dismissal is not seen as a stigma.
“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 asked.
“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,” Kapil Dev suggested.
“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 one 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,” Kapil Dev exclusively told Sportskeeda on Thursday.
The reason Ashwin started the channel
Ashwin, the tall and languid off-spinner, who has made many a batter dance to his tune has off late been very active on YouTube. On the cricket field, he asks questions about the batter’s technique and patience. He is relentless with the ball in his hand. If the pitch is turning, Ashwin is a nightmare even for the best of the batter. Recently in Australia, Ashwin’s contribution with the ball was invaluable. He got Smith twice for low score. It was more than just half the battle won. With the bat, he has provided handy runs from lower the order. We know about all of these. However, there is one aspect of his personality that may have involuntarily stoking the fire within the opposition ranks. Let me analyse Ashwin’s YouTube and Indian WT20 squad.
Ashwin has more than 700K followers on his YouTube channel. Some of his videos are legendary. His interviews with lot of former and current players reveals a lot of information about that player as well as his approach to the game.
Ashwin mainly wanted to spread lot of cheer during these uncertain times. He has been doing a fabulous job with his mostly Tamil movie resembled quick bytes. Any Tamil speaker will be able to enjoy his show even better than for a non-Tamil speaker who just have to read the subtitle.
“My idea was to offer cricket fans a snapshot of how the game looks like from the coaches’ dug-out. It’s a perspective they don’t often get.
“They would often miss the context and the big picture. I thought, why not have a better engagement with them and share my experiences and emotions. “ says Ashwin
Unforgettable series
The “Kutti Story” series is on a higher level all-together. It is a series of shows based on the successful Indian tour of Australia. It was a treat from Ashwin for all the Indian fans. Anyone who has watched that video would have certainly had a great laugh eventhough she or he may not understand Tamil. His informal interaction with Sridhar & Arun was more of a laugh riot.
At the best of times, dressing room nuggets and anecdotes of the kind brought out by Ashwin would be cricket journalism gold (Ravi Shastri who uttered 249′ shabaashes’ as Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari blocked away at Sydney) or for that matter Arun talking about “tamarind” a Tamil equivalent to heebie-jeebies’. These are anecdotes that will never be known to the outside world unless a player reveals.
Ashwin must guard against disclosing too much
However, Ashwin must take care what he discloses on his shows. Even in the recent England series, there was one show in which he let out more than what is necessary. In the show titled “Kutti Story is back” Ashwin and Sridhar talks about the win at Lords. That show has already clocked close to 1M views. Ofcourse, it was enjoyable to watch. Especially for Tamilians or who can understand Tamil.
However, there were three things that Ashwin divulged which I think motivated England enough.