On April 10th, during the IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants, a potential mankading incident occurred. With just one run needed from two balls and RCB needing just one wicket to push the game into a super over, Harshal Patel pulled out before releasing the ball just as he approached the stumps.
Harshal attempts to Mankad
The non-striker Ravi Bishnoi had run out of the crease, backing up too quickly. Harshal tried to flick the bails off, but he missed and kept running ahead with the momentum. His bowling arm hadn’t passed the perpendicular, which would mean he had completed the action and couldn’t run out a non-striker who has backed up too far.
However, Harshal had kept running on the wicket a bit too far. Bishnoi was still out of the crease by a distance. Harshal turned around, fired down the stumps with a throw, and appealed. The umpire suggested that Harshal had to complete the run-out in a smooth action where you abort the bowling action but swiftly remove the bails. Since Harshal had run too far down the track, he couldn’t make the run-out.
Super over missed
RCB still had a chance for a super over. Avesh Khan missed the next ball, and Bishnoi hurried across. He wouldn’t have made it to safety in time, but Dinesh Karthik, the wicketkeeper, failed to collect the ball cleanly in his hurry to get ready to throw down the stumps. By the time he collected himself and the ball, it was too late. Bishnoi was inside, and at the other end, Avesh Khan hurled his helmet on the ground in relief.
This incident has similarities to a past mankading incident involving Ravichandran Ashwin in IPL 2019. In that incident, Ashwin ran out Jose Butler at the non-striker’s end as he was out of his crease even before the ball was bowled. This action created a controversy, and it continues to be a topic of debate regarding whether such dismissals are against the spirit of the game. However, the ICC has now termed these types of dismissals as ‘run out,’ and since October 1, 2022, it no longer sits in the ‘unfair play’ section of its rule book.
Written by Rishabh Rastogi
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