Cricket rulemakers need to change ‘Mankad’ law as latest incident ignites debate yet again

The problem with the “Mankad” in cricket is not its use but the grey area around whether it should be done because it is not considered in the spirit of the game.

It’s in the laws of the game as a legal tactic, therefore there should not be an uproar every time someone does it.

Batters are breaking the laws of the game when they leave the non-striker’s end before the ball is bowled so why should they be allowed an unfair advantage?

Debate has lit up in Australian cricket circles after vision of Kingston Hawthorn bowler Sen Sathyajith performing the tactic went viral over the weekend.

He did it twice while running into bowl in the final overs of a second XI game against Casey-South Melbourne.

With the Hawks defending 203 on Saturday afternoon, the opening bowler first ran out batter Isaiah Jassal at the non-striker’s end to leave the Swans 8-181, before repeating the dose just a few overs later for the final wicket of the match, securing a tense 13-run win.

Cricket’s lawmakers, the MCC, as it does on many matters, sat on its hands when this debate flared for decades and made an attempt in 2017 to clarify the rule.

Law 41.16 regarding a non-striker leaving their ground early was amended to say:

“If the non-striker is out of their ground from the moment the ball comes into play to the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, the bowler is permitted to attempt to run them out. Whether the attempt is successful or not, the ball shall not count as one in the over.

“If the bowler fails in an attempt to run out the non-striker, the umpire shall call and signal dead ball as soon as possible.”

But there’s still the problem that traditionalists say the batter should be given a warning before the supposedly dastardly deed is done.

After Ravichandran Ashwin controversially dismissed Jos Buttler at the non-striker’s end in this fashion in an IPL game in 2019, the hysteria around the law prompted the MCC to issue a statement “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.”

Last weekend’s incident shows there is still widespread anger towards the use of the “Mankad”.

Ask any bowler at all levels and they will tell you batters get all the advantages when it comes to cricket – the old “they get the benefit of the doubt” principle.

Why should they be allowed to leave their crease early when a bowler is pinged a penalty run and has to bowl a delivery again if their front foot is a fraction over the line, in some forms of the game also conceding a free hit.

The MCC should empower umpires to signal one run short any time they think a non-striker has left early, negating the advantage they have unfairly obtained.

If an illegally gained single suddenly became nothing or a four was brought back to a three, a six becomes a five, that would quickly put an end to batters jumping the gun.

The Victorian second grade incident divided opinion in the social media sphere – again, nothing new – when local reporter Paul Amy revealed the story on Twitter.

Among the responders was former Victorian first-class cricketer and current St Kilda captain Adam Crosthwaite, who replied: “This is horrible. Cannot believe the people in this post praising the bowler. Are you kidding?”

However, many of the other replies supported the bowler, with suggestions batters Jassal and Sachin Halangode were themselves cheating by backing up too early.

The Herald Sun reports that Premier Cricket manager Liam Murphy is investigating the incident. “That’s [further reports from the match] something that will be determined in the next 24 hours or so.”

Nothing should happen. Why should it? If the laws of the sport state in black and white that it’s permissible, then there’s nothing to see here, move along.

And the name Mankad should go the way of “the Chinaman” for left-arm wrist-spinners into the dustbin of cricket’s lexicon.

Generations of players have used the term, mostly in a derogatory way, without even knowing its origin.

Vinoo Mankad was a trail-blazing Indian cricketer when the team and the country encountered many challenges, a lot of them based around racial snobbery from other Test-playing nations.

A fine all-rounder, he was the fine all-rounder who averaged 31.47 with the bat in making 2109 runs in 44 Tests, the best of his five centuries a record-breaking 231 at Chennai against New Zealand. With the ball, he took 162 wickets with his left-arm finger-spinners at 32.32, including 8-52 against Pakistan in Delhi and 8-55 against England at Chennai.

He ran out Australian opener Bill Brown during the second Test of India’s tour of Australia in 1947-48 at the SCG. You would think the local press would be outraged by the tactic but Brown was the one who was roundly criticised for leaving his ground early.

Mankad had done it to Brown prior to the Test in a warm-up game and on that occasion, he had warned the batter before employing the divisive tactic.

In a book released last year by Indian cricket writer Gulu Ezekiel entitled “Myth-Busting: Indian cricket behind the headlines”, he presented the case put forward by The Cricketer magazine at the time which said the SCG crowd at the tour match “realized the fairness of the bowler’s action and cheered him”.

Former Test batter Arthur Mailey, a long-time cricket correspondent in his retirement, described Mankad as “over-generous not having run him out the first time” before dismissing Brown.

As for Brown, he reportedly was remorseful for his actions in the wake of the incident and apologised to Mankad during a post-match drink.

In an interview with Wisden in 2004, Brown – who died in 2008, aged 95 – said Mankad had given him a lesson.

“Vinoo Mankad taught me to smarten myself up with the two run-outs in 1947-48. Later I called him to say there were no hard feelings.”

Brown was run out for 99 later in the summer in the traditional manner when a return to the keeper found him short of his ground.

And as fate would have it, the fielder on this occasion was none other than Mankad.

“As I walked off I looked to see who threw it – my old mate Vinoo.”