Chennai Super Kings (CSK) all-rounder Dwayne Bravo is receiving flak for backing up too far against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 12th match of IPL 2021 at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday (April 19).
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During the 20th over of CSK’s innings, Bravo was seen standing at least a yard ahead of the crease while RR pacer Mustafizur Rahman hadn't even released the ball.
Bravo’s antics left many infuriated, including the renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle, who was on-air when the incident took place, said: “You cannot be there. He has stolen more than a yard there, Dwayne Bravo. That is why I believe you’re entirely within your rights — it should almost be mandatory in team meetings — to say, ‘Run him out’.
"All this talk about not being in the spirit of the game is so much nonsense. He has taken a yard! I never understood how it is in the spirit of the game to run less and claim the run. That is against the spirit of the game.”
Former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull, who was also present in the commentary box, endorsed Bhogle's sentiments.
"That picture we just showed, where Bravo was so far out of his crease and the no-ball was shown, is a great example of why he should be run out. The bowler is minimally over, yet he gets punished," Doull said.
Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad also shared his two cents on this debate. He took to Twitter and tagged the ICC in his post, opining that calling 'mankad' against the spirit of the game is a ‘joke’.
“The bowler overstepping by a few inches is penalised, but a batsman backing up a few yards isn’t. The bowler has every right to run out a batsman backing up so far. PERIOD. Calling it against the spirit of the game is a joke @ICC,” Prasad tweeted.
Coming to the match, CSK posted 188/9 in 20 overs on the back of key contributions from Faf du Plessis (33 off 17 balls), Ambati Rayudu (27), Moeen Ali (26) and Dwayne Bravo (20* off 8 balls).
With the ball, Super Kings restricted RR to 143/9 in 20 overs. It was a listless batting performance from the Royals as none of them except for Jos Buttler (49 off 35 balls) managed to touch the 25-run mark.
Moeen Ali (3-7), Sam Curran (2-24) and Ravindra Jadeja (2-28) were the wreckers-in-chief with the ball for CSK.
