Ashwin captained Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in two IPL seasons in 2018 and 2019.
One of the best examples of Ashwin’s out-of-the-box thinking came in IPL 2019, when he was captaining Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab) and was playing against Rajasthan Royals. Punjab had batted first and, thanks to Chris Gayle’s 79 and Sarfaraz Khan’s 46*, posted 184/4.
In response, Jos Buttler was going great guns, scoring 69 in 43 balls and having put RR in the driver’s seat. On the penultimate ball of the 13th over, Ashwin did the unthinkable and ran Jos Buttler out, as he was outside of the return crease at the non-striker’s end.
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Punjab won the game by 14 runs, but Ashwin copped a lot of criticism for his act of running out Buttler, while many termed it as being against the sportsman spirit.
Despite the stigma associated with that type of dismissal, Ashwin acknowledged that there is nothing to be ashamed of about the way he fired Buttler in retrospect and in response to the criticism that followed.
"A lot of people talk about character, say this is wrong, or say the player is wrong. After hearing all that, I felt like doing it even more, not to prove a point to people. There was a moment when I was captain against Mumbai, and they needed two runs. I was at extra cover and told the bowler to run the batter out at the non-striker's end. The batter ran, but the bowler refused because people say it's wrong. If the ICC felt this was an honesty problem, they wouldn't keep it in the rules," Ashwin said on JioStar's 'The Ravichandran Ashwin Experience.'
"If you need two runs off one ball and you start running early, whose fault is it? People say Jos Buttler didn't try to run, but that's not my problem. People also say I did it to win. Of course, I did it to win. What is there to be ashamed of? After I ran him out, I called the team and said, 'This will look different to them; they will lose. Don't worry about the reaction; I will handle the media. We just have to win. And we won. So, there is no issue of character in this," he added.
Ashwin, who later played with Buttler for Rajasthan in the IPL, claimed that other bowlers are reluctant to use this kind of removal because they fear public outrage.
"Other bowlers should also do it. Why don't they? Because of the first thought that comes to mind: 'What will people say?' It has become a kind of societal pressure, whether it is right or wrong. This started with umpires asking captains if they want to withdraw the appeal. If you withdraw, you are seen as 'good,' which is also wrong, because you let your bowler down in front of everyone.
"This decision should belong to the bowler, and giving it out or not is the umpire's job. Why make a rule so complex? Like LBW, this is also out. Many cricketers tweeted that this is bad. My answer is simple: I didn't steal, I didn't do anything wrong, and I played within the laws. Those who talk like this—I could file a case against them in court. What they are doing is character assassination. I am very proud of it; I will continue to be, and whoever does it, I will praise them even more," he said.
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