Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer recently took a dig at English media and players for criticising Deepti Sharma for Mankading Charlotte Dean in the recent series win against England.
The cricketing world has been left divided after off-spin all-rounder Deepti Sharma ran out England's Charlie Dean in the 44th over at the non-striker's end to get a 16-run victory for India over England at Lord's to complete a 3-0 sweep.
Only last week, in the changes made by the ICC, the method of effecting a run out from the non-striker's end was moved from Law 41 of 'Unfair Play' to Law 38 of 'Run out' section, making it no longer an unfair mode of dismissal.
With a majority of England cricketers, both men's and women's, disagreeing over the mode of dismissal, Deepti has found people speaking in her favour of running out Charlie from non-striker's end.
And Jaffer poked fun at the English media by comparing them to a bike incident.
Italian cyclist Michael Guerra made the decision to cycle in the ‘plank’ position during a race to get an advantage over his rivals. Jaffer quote tweeted Guerra’s video to imply that the cyclist would have never done it had it not been within the rules of the sport.
He captioned it: “It maybe within the rules, but it's against the spirit of cycling. I'd never do it" an English cyclist said.”
Even commentator Harsha Bhogle backed the India all-rounder and said he is disturbed by the criticism directed towards Deepti.
Meanwhile, ace India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who had famously ran out England white-ball skipper Jos Buttler in the same manner during the 2019 IPL, backed Deepti. "Why the hell are you trending, Ashwin? Tonight is about another bowling hero @Deepti_Sharma06," wrote Ashwin on Twitter.
When England wicketkeeper-batter Sam Billing pointed out that veteran pacer James Anderson could have got more wickets with this mode of dismissal, Ashwin joined the debate by tweeting that a bravery award be constituted for the bowlers for effecting the run-out from non-striker's end.
"In fact that's a great idea. How about awarding that wicket to the bowler for "presence of mind" under immense pressure and of course knowing the social stigma that he/she would have to deal with post doing it. How about a bravery award to go with it too @ICC."
England opener Alex Hales, currently featuring in the T20I series against Pakistan, replied to Billings tweet by typing, "It shouldn't be difficult for the non striker to stay in their crease til (till) the ball has left the hand."
In his other tweet, Hales further said, "The ball didn't leave the hand though...I'm not talking necessarily about this incident, but just the 'mankad' issue in general. It wouldn't be an issue if batters simply remained in the crease until the ball has left the hand."
Former India batter Virender Sehwag lashed out at England cricketers showing their anger towards Deepti. "Funny to see so many English guys being poor losers. #Runout," wrote Sehwag on Twitter.
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer commented in Deepti's favour on Twitter. "It's actually quite simple. Ball comes into play when the bowler starts run up. From that moment on as a batter or non-striker you've to keep your eyes on the ball, if you're a bit careless the opposition will get you out. And you can get out at either ends."
