The running out of Charlie Dean by Deepti Sharma at the non-striker’s end during the Lord’s ODI last week is still being talked about, and fans and pundits are still debating whether this particular mode of dismissal is in ‘spirit of cricket’. Ravichandran Ashwin, who had also run-out Jos Buttler during the 2019 Indian Premier League in the same fashion, on Saturday spoke about the entire incident, saying he sees this particular mode of dismissal as “bowlers revolution”.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin spoke about the subject matter in detail, and before directly speaking about the incident, the off-spinner said: “In the beginning, the whole world saw it that way. But now, most of them have started realising that the bowlers didn’t commit any crime there. Many of them have started asking why you are asking questions to the innocent instead of asking the person who should be guilty. Only a certain section of the people seems to have a problem with this.”
“In my opinion, they always play the victim card. But whenever there is something new happening, there will be some resistance to change by a few people and that is understandable,” he added.
Further talking about the incident, Ashwin said: “Yes, I am talking about the run-out at the non-striker’s end done by Deepti Sharma dismissing Charlie Dean. I have already spoken enough on this subject already. So let me be short and sweet today. Risk vs Reward. Just like how a batter knows when he steps out of the crease against a spinner or a pacer that a wicketkeeper can dismiss them by stumping. Likewise, a non-striker should also know that he can be dismissed run-out legitimately if they keep stepping out of the crease and taking that extra yard.”
“We should teach the kids right from when they are young on this. Because in today’s world of competitive cricket, I spoke about this during the Ahmedabad Test match when the pitch issue’ was brought up on what was a good pitch. I told ‘do not control the narratives’. Because a certain section of people consciously chooses to instill in others how they should think about a certain thing. They control their narratives. There are many articles on this exact subject. In fact, I see this as a bowler’s revolution,” he stated.
After winning the Lord’s ODI, Harmanpreet Kaur had backed her player Deepti, saying whatever happened was “within the rules” and she showed great game awareness.
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“If you look around the world, captains have mostly been batters. I don’t want to get into the debate on whether they know about it or not. But as the game gets more competitive, it’s the duty of the non-striker to stay at the crease. Nobody goes to Charlie Dean and asks her ‘why did you leave the crease’. They never ask the non-striker why they leave the crease early. So, people who have power only control the narratives. There is no question about that,” said Ashwin.
“So, my full support and kudos to Harmanpreet Kaur more than Deepti Sharma. Because a captain backing the player at the moment is very important. She backed her player and asked back ‘what’s wrong with that? The non-striker shouldn’t have left the crease, right’. If the captain had withdrawn the appeal at that time just because of the boos from the crowd, it would have been a stigma for Deepti Sharma, the bowler, the cricketer and the person,” he concluded.
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