Melbourne,aug 20
Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting says he will not allow senior India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to employ the controversial ‘Mankading’ dismissal during the upcoming IPL as “it’s not within the spirit of the game”.Last IPL, Rajasthan Royals batsman Jos Buttler was run out on 69 while backing up at the non-striker’s end, with Ashwin, then captaining Kings XI Punjab, whipping off the bails after the batsman stepped out of the crease before the ball was bowled. Ashwin will play for Delhi Capitals this year.“I’ll be having a chat with him about (Mankading), that’s the first thing I’ll do. That is going to be a hard conversation I will have with him. I think, even him, looking back now, probably he’d say it was within the rules and he’s right to do it,” Ponting said while speaking on The Grade Cricketer Podcast.“ …Watching that last season, as soon as it happened, I actually sat our boys down and said ‘Look, I know he’s done it, there’ll be others around the tournament who’ll think about doing this well but that’s not going to be the way that we play our cricket. We won’t be doing that’.”The senior Indian bowler had defended his act at that time, saying it was within the rules of the game.But Ponting feels the controversial mode of dismissal is against the spirit of the game.“But this is not within the spirit of the game, not in the way I want, at least with the Delhi Capitals anyway,” he said.
