Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan WAPDA needed four runs to win, with more than 78 overs left in the day. Peshawar needed one wicket. Three days of cricket and here we were, the game delicately poised. And then Peshawar fast bowler Taj Wali decided to ‘Mankad’ the non-striker Mohammad Irfan – who had casually taken a step out from the popping crease while the bowler was about to deliver. Following the law, the umpire had no option but to give Irfan out once the bowler appealed – a close finish in this season’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy made controversial in Abbotabad. Ahmed Shahab and Faisal Afridi, the on-field umpires, consulted after the incident, and asked the fielding side if they wanted to rethink their appeal. They didn’t, and Peshawar won by three runs – a rare win for a regional side over a department one, and, in this case, no less than the tournament’s defending champions.

WAPDA’s captain Salman Butt questioned the spirit of the act. “What’s the point of this law when the winning team isn’t proud and ashamed instead?” Salman said. “We had a great game, fully competitive throughout four days, which saw both teams’ fortunes fluctuate. And suddenly this ‘Mankading’ spoiled it. Sportsman spirit should have been the top priority but the game didn’t end in a proper way. What’s the point of this law when the opponent team despite winning apologises to us?”

According to the ICC playing regulations, mirrored in Pakistan domestic cricket, the dismissal was clearly fair. The bowler is permitted, before releasing the ball and provided he has not completed his usual delivery swing, to attempt to run out the non-striker. Whether the attempt is successful or not, the ball shall not count as one of 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.

Salman said that if this law was within the spirit of the game then why was Courtney Walsh praised for not ‘Mankading’ Saleem Jaffar in 1987 World Cup match, which Pakistan won eventually. “We have seen several incidents were players were praised for not ‘Mankading’ opponents, which is evidence that this is not for which anyone can feel proud of,” he said. Salman, however, added that despite his grievances, he accepted the result of the match and admitted that Irfan was out legally.

The ‘Mankaded’ style of running opponent out came into limelight in 1947 when Indian bowler Vinoo Mankad ran out Australia’s Bill Brown in Sydney. ‘Mankad’, while being in the act of delivering the ball, held onto it and removed the bails with Brown well out of his crease. Since this incident, a batsman dismissed in this fashion is (informally) said to have been ‘Mankaded’. The most recent incident of ‘Mankading’ a player out in international cricket appeared when England’s Jos Butler was out in this fashion by Sri Lanka’s Sachithra Senanayake in Birmingham in an ODI in 2014. Following the incident, MCC’s World Cricket Committee said that the method of getting opponent run out ‘Mankading’ is not against the spirit of the game.

Published in Daily Times, October 19^th 2017.