New Delhi: With the cricket world split into two groups, pro-Ashwin and anti-Ashwin, over his Mankad dismissal of Jos Buttler, former India captain Rahul Dravid has spoken with clarity and a sense of balance. He has said it was wrong to question Ravichandran Ashwin’s character on the basis of him running out Buttler for leaving the crease too early during an IPL match.
“I think some of the reactions were overblown. Questioning Ashwin’s character because he did that is totally wrong. He has every right to his view,” Dravid said in a newspaper interview.
“You might not agree with it, but it was well within his rights to do it and that does not make him a bad person. Like I said, I would rather he had warned first, but if he chose not to do it, then that’s his interpretation and you can’t have an issue with that,” Dravid said.
Cricket’s rules, in fact, state that a bowler is not bound to warn a non-striker before running him out for leaving his crease before the ball is bowled. A statement issued by the Marylebone Cricket Club yesterday stated: “To clarify, it has never been in the laws that a warning should be given to the non-striker and nor is it against the spirit of cricket to run out a non-striker who is seeking to gain an advantage by leaving his/her ground early.”
Dravid said Ashwin is not a cheat. “It is not about being a gentleman or a non-gentleman. This is not a judgement on his character, but his reading of the law. He has not cheated anybody, nor is he a bad person because he did that,” he added.
