Deepti Sharma ran Charlotte Dean out at the non-striker’s end to get the last wicket and seal the ODI series against England 3-0. This incident has the cricketing world divided over how ethical this move is. Many people have started questioning its legality, even calling it against the spirit of cricket.
The act of running out a batter at the non-striker’s end by a bowler in the final delivery stride is informally termed “Mankading” after Indian cricketer Vinoo Mankad who was the first person to run out Bill Brown of Australia in Sydney in 1947-48. Since then, there have been multiple such instances in international cricket. Each time this happens, it sparks a debate amongst the entire world of cricket.
Last night’s Women’s ODI match between India and England, was brought to a close with Charlotte Dean being run-out in the same fashion by Deepti Sharma. While earlier this move was under Law 41 (Unfair Play) in the Laws of Cricket, it was brought up to Law 38 (Run Out). So as far as the legality and the ethics are concerned, we can safely say that this move is legal and ethical under the laws of cricket. If a batter is trying to steal runs by leaving their ground early, then they are liable to be run out by the bowler.
As far as the spirit of the game is concerned, why is it that the responsibility of upholding it falls on the shoulders of the bowlers and not the batters? I have hardly seen short runs awarded when batters have not started from the crease or have attempted to steal runs. When it comes to “Mankading”, the blame is always put on the bowler for being unsportsmanlike or for not upholding the spirit of cricket. In my opinion, this reflects the deep-rooted toxic colonialism in the game of cricket, where in the earlier days, batting was for the gentlemen and bowling was for the workers.
If a batter is stealing runs they should be equally penalised and brought under scrutiny. As far as I feel, the laws define the game of cricket and if it’s in the laws, then it’s in the spirit of cricket. Some bowlers may choose to give a warning before bowling the non-striker out as Kapil Dev did with Peter Kirsten of South Africa in 1992-93, or, they may not to warn as Ravichandran Ashwin did with Jos Buttler in IPL 2019. In another instance from IPL 2019, Krunal Pandya of Mumbai Indians chose not to run out Mayank Agarwal of Kings XI Punjab, only for Punjab to win the match later.
So all in all, running a non-striking batter out for trying to steal runs, while fully within the laws of the game and in my opinion within the spirit of the game too, is a personal choice of the bowler who again is only acting within the laws of the game.