David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd has given his opinion on the debate surrounding Ravi Ashwin’s Mankad dismissal of Jos Buttler in the IPL.
The Sky Sports broadcaster called Ashwin’s actions deceitful in relation to what ICC rules state, while Buttler was not exactly blameless but ‘guilty of being a bit dozy’.
The flashpoint which has become the talking point in the sport was sparked by Monday’s IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, where Ashwin halted his action at the release point to dismiss Buttler on 69.
Sticking to what the laws dictate, Lloyd gave his thoughts on a decision which MCC lawmakers have declared the ‘incident could have been ruled out or not out’.
“I would argue Ashwin didn’t go about things correctly,” Lloyd wrote in a column for Sky Sports. “It’s only my opinion, but I hought that Ashwin was trying to deceive the batsman.
“I’m just reading through the laws of the game, because the law has recently changed. It states: ‘If the non-striker is out of his ground at any time from the moment the ball comes in to play, until the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball’.
“What seems particularly relevant is, ‘when the bowler is normally expected to release the ball’. It looked to me, at the precise moment of his dismissal, Ashwin had stopped in his delivery. Buttler would therefore have continued, expecting Ashwin to release the ball and not knowing that he would stop.”
Shane Warne acted vociferously towards Ashwin and called into question his actions as Kings captain compromising the ‘spirit of cricket’ – a notion which is non-existent according to Lloyd.
“As for the ‘spirit of the game’? Forget it,” he said. “There is none. It’s pie in the sky thinking. The spirit of the game went years ago; It’s dog eat dog.”
Ashwin was accused by Warne, an ambassador for the Rajasthan Royals, of committing a ‘disgraceful act’ and would have to ‘live with yourself’ in a Twitter outburst.
At the post-match press conference Ashwin defended himself for acting within the rules of the game.
