Ashwin lauded India captain Harmanpreet Kaur for backing Deepti Sharma.
Deepti had run out Dean who had been leaving her crease at the bowling end multiple times in that match after reportedly warning her more than one time, which also resulted in India winning the match by 16 runs and whitewashing England 3-0 in their own home for the first time.
Several England players and journalists slammed Deepti’s act as against the spirit of cricket but received some just rebuttal from Indian and other cricketers and pundits as well. Harsha Bhogle even called it a cultural thing, while Stokes responded to it as well.
Now R Ashwin, who had run out Jos Buttler the same way in IPL 2019, has said that England always plays the victim card and he sees this particular mode of dismissal as a "bowlers revolution".
"In the beginning, the whole world saw it that way. But now, most of them have started realizing that the bowlers didn't commit any crime there. Many of them have started asking why you are asking questions to the innocent instead of asking the person who should be guilty. Only a certain section of the people seem to have a problem with this,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
"In my opinion, they always play the victim card. But whenever there is something new happening, there will be some resistance to change by a few people and that is understandable," he added.
Further talking about the incident, Ashwin said: "Yes, I am talking about the run-out at the non-striker's end done by Deepti Sharma dismissing Charlie Dean. I have already spoken enough on this subject already. So let me be short and sweet today. Risk vs Reward. Just like how a batter knows when he steps out of the crease against a spinner or a pacer that a wicketkeeper can dismiss them by stumping. Likewise, a non-striker should also know that he can be dismissed run-out legitimately if they keep stepping out of the crease and taking that extra yard."
R Ashwin also spoke about why no one is asking Charlie Dean why was she leaving the crease early before the ball was bowled, though it is against the rules of cricket. And he also lauded India captain Harmanpreet Kaur for backing Deepti Sharma fully and saying whatever happened was "within the rules" and she showed great game awareness.
"If you look around the world, captains have mostly been batters. I don't want to get into the debate on whether they know about it or not. But as the game gets more competitive, it's the duty of the non-striker to stay at the crease. Nobody goes to Charlie Dean and asks her 'why did you leave the crease'. They never ask the non-striker why they leave the crease early. So, people who have power only control the narratives. There is no question about that," said Ashwin.
"So, my full support and kudos to Harmanpreet Kaur more than Deepti Sharma. Because a captain backing the player at the moment is very important. She backed her player and asked back 'what's wrong with that? The non-striker shouldn't have left the crease, right'. If the captain had withdrawn the appeal at that time just because of the boos from the crowd, it would have been a stigma for Deepti Sharma, the bowler, the cricketer, and the person," he concluded.
(NDTV inputs)