First and last time, warns Delhi Capitals coach Ponting

Delhi Capitals spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said he wouldn’t be giving any more warnings after he resisted taking a controversial ‘Mankad’ run-out in the Indian Premier League under strict orders from his coach Ricky Ponting.

Ashwin, who famously Mankaded England’s Jos Buttler in last year’s competition, instead stopped his run-up and warned Aaron Finch when the Australian ventured out of his crease at the non-striker’s end.

Before the tournament, Ponting had said Mankading was “not within the spirit of the game” and that he would be having a “hard conversation” with Ashwin on the subject.

“Let’s make it clear !! First and final warning for 2020. I am making it official and don’t blame me later on,” Ashwin tweeted after Monday’s game against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dubai.

The rare mode of dismissal was named after India’s Vinoo Mankad, who ran out Australia’s Bill Brown by removing the bails at the bowler’s end during the 1947 Sydney Test.

While legitimate, the Mankad dismissal has been widely considered unsporting.

Ashwin employed the tactic last year while playing for Kings XI Punjab as he stopped in his delivery stride to whip off the bails when Rajasthan Royals batsman Buttler was out of his ground.

The India off-spinner was traded to Delhi for this year’s Twenty20 tournament, which is being held in UAE because of India’s high number of coronavirus cases.

Ashwin, who said he was “good buddies” with Finch, has proposed giving a “free ball” to the bowler and docking the batting team five runs when a batsman is caught out by Mankad.

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