India's Ravichandran Ashwin reacts after Virat Kohli drops a catch during the T20 World Cup cricket match between India and South Africa in Perth, Australia, Sunday, October 30, 2022.
South Africa may have won against India with two balls to spare, but it was not easy for the chasing team.
Ravichandran Ashwin had a golden opportunity to help India but he did not do it of his own free will. At least that's what many social media users believe. Barring Suryakumar Yadav, all the Indian batsmen failed to add much to the scoreboard. India could score just 133 runs on the board and South Africa were shaky initially.
It was the first time since 2011 that SA had defeated India in an ICC event when the Proteas defeated the Indian in the 50-over World Cup in Nagpur. South Africa may have won with two balls to spare, but it was not easy for the team chasing the target.
South Africa's team lost by two wickets for just three runs. After all, they were 24/3, and things suddenly looked promising for India. However, it was David Miller's unbeaten 59 off 46 balls, not to forget the contribution of Aiden Markram (52).
Now, some users on social media are angry as Ravichandran Ashwin had a chance to run out Miller, but the former chose not to. Ashwin had a chance to mankad the South African batsman. However, the Indian spinner chose to leave him giving him a subtle warning.
After scoring 30-plus runs in his first three overs, Ashwin was assigned to bowl the 18th over. Before taking a single, Miller hit him for two big straight sixes. Then, Ashwin got a chance to bat Mankad in-form, but he chose not to do so.
ICC shared the video in its official Instagram channel. People are now wondering why Ashwin didn't do this as it could have changed the outcome of the match. Ashwin is no stranger to Mankading batsmen. In IPL 2019, he did this with Jos Buttler, and the late cricket legend Shane Warne called it "outrageous". In IPL 2020, however, Ashwin did not pick Mankad Aaron Finch.
The Vinoo Mankad technique of dismissal, which is valid but is widely considered to violate the spirit of the game, unless the batsman is warned in advance, is named after a former Indian player. .
The Indian women's team had earlier defeated England at Lord's in September in order to sweep the three-match series. Deepti Sharma's Charlie Dean ki Mankad became the focal point of the entire conversation around the game. While Indian fans had a field day on Twitter, England fans and commentators found the situation disturbing.
