Ricky Ponting will not tolerate Ravi Ashwin becoming a villain.
The former Australian cricket captain has notified the Indian star ahead of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) and plans to ditch the off-spinner Mankads.
Watch every ball in the England vs Pakistan Test Series live & on demand on Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your free trial now and start streaming right away>
Mankading refers to the bowler running out of stroke at the end of the non-striker before delivering the ball when he notices that the willow keeper has stepped back too far and left his crease.
Ashwin made no apologies after creating huge controversy in the IPL of Jos Buttler of Mankading England last year and has since advocated bowlers having the right to take such action to prevent Batters from gaining an unfair advantage by walking down the field before setting off on a run.
Ponting will coach the Delhi Capitals at this year’s IPL, and Ashwin has joined the franchise after joining from Kings XI Punjab.
Although the tweaker is an advocate of the Mankad, Ponting will make it clear that the platoon has no place on his team.
“I’ll talk to him about (Mankading), that’s the first thing I’ll do,” said Ponting The grade cricketer Podcast.
“Obviously he wasn’t in our squad last year, he’s one of the players we wanted to buy this year.
“Look, he’s a great bowler and he’s done a great job at the IPL for a long time, but I have to admit that once it happened and he did that, I actually sat down these guys and he said, ‘ Look, I know he did it, there will be others around the tournament who will think about it, but that will not be the way we play our cricket. We won’t do that ‘.
RELATED: Cricket Legends Pop “Ridiculous” Drama
RELATED: Horror Steve Waugh Moment Changed Everything
“Well, this is going to be a conversation and this is going to be a tough talk to have with him, but I’m pretty sure he’ll take it on the chin.
“I think even he, looking back now, would probably say it’s within the rules and he’s right to do it, but that’s not in the spirit of the game, not the way I want it to be, at least not with the Delhi Capitals anyway. “
Ponting would prefer the teams to pay a run penalty if the batters at the end of the non-striker are guilty of leaving their fold prematurely.
He believes this would discourage the practice while eliminating the need for bowlers to take action on their own.
“I think there are ways you can actually prevent batsmen from cheating like that,” said Ponting. “If the bowler was going to stop and the batsman was a foot off his crease, for example, why not just punish him for a few runs or something?” Then they won’t do it again.
“You only have to do that once at the beginning of a tournament and then all the players see it, and you can guarantee that the players won’t fumble any more from then on.
“I talked to some referees about it during the IPL last year. If the umpires take a stand and do something to warn the batsmen that they may be cheating, then that is better than the ugly incident of a Mankad. “
.
