As he attacked Lucknow Super Giants skipper Rishabh Pant on Wednesday, former India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin, who has seen his fair share of targeting following the run-out incident involving Jos Buttler in the 2019 IPL, leapt to Digvesh Rathi's defense.
Ashwin supported Rathi despite his humiliation following his unsuccessful effort to run out Jitesh Sharma, the stand-in skipper for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, at the non-striker's end during Tuesday's IPL 2025 match in Lucknow.
The incident occurred during RCB's chase of 228 on the last ball of the 17th over. Earlier in the over, Rathi had been refused a dismissal of the wicketkeeper-batter after a backfoot no-ball and a six off the free hit.
Jitesh was looking perfect, and Rathi tried to run him out at the non-striker's end with RCB requiring 29 off the final 19 balls. With Jitesh beyond the crease, he halted before delivering the final ball of the over and whipped off the bails. Considering section 38.3.1 of the IPL 2025 Playing Conditions, the third umpire was not persuaded.
LSG captain Pant was seen on camera rescinding the appeal. His move, which was regarded as "showing sportsmanship," caused the pundits to go crazy, even though it had no bearing on the outcome.
In addition to criticizing the commentators for their remarks, Ashwin was incensed with Pant for "humiliating" Rathi in front of everyone watching and leaving him "scarred."
"As an owner of LSG, I will be thinking that I need Jitesh Sharma's wicket. If he has stepped outside the crease, he is out. Now let me dive into the technicality of the incident. Is he justified in being out if he stepped outside the crease before Digvesh Rathi got into the delivery stride? Yes. Would it be bad for RCB? Yes, again, because they would not have liked Rathi or Pant if they did that. Now let's look into the real-case scenario. When Rathi landed his front foot, Jitesh was inside the crease. So, this was not out. After breaking the stumps, umpire Michael Gough asked him whether he was appealing, and not whether he was sure. He said, 'Yes, I'm appealing.' So the decision went to the third umpire, and the right decision was made,” Ashwin said in his YouTube channel, Ash ki Baat.
"Until now, everything was right. But after that, commentators started saying that Pant had withdrawn the appeal—what an amazing act of sportsmanship. Grow out of this. Pant is a fantastic cricketer. He scored a stunning century, and I know he will go on to do great things in cricket. I am already looking forward to the England series just to see how he will bat and help India win. I am a big fan of Pant. I'm clarifying it yet again before being targeted by people. But think, you are the father of Rathi, and his captain, in front of crores of people, criticized him. He actually went over the board. A captain's job is to back the bowler and not make him feel small,’ he added.
???? Ashwin exposed Pant
— Rajiv (@Rajiv1841) May 28, 2025
- Digvesh Rathi appealed for runout(attempted mankad) & umpires asked him if you really want to appeal & decision went to third umpire & they said it was notout. And then Pant withdrawn the appeal(when it was already notout????).
- Fake Injury break, Act of… pic.twitter.com/xbH5wgDfPf
The season following the Buttler incident, Ashwin then talked about his chat with Ricky Ponting and Shreyas Iyer in the Delhi Capitals dressing room. He said that after the Australian corrected the record prior to the tournament, he had agreed to the terms of not running out a batter at the non-striker's end.
"The next year, after that incident between me and Buttler, I reached the Delhi Capitals team, and there, I had a word with Shreyas Iyer before the Delhi-Punjab game. Iyer asked me, 'We will not run anybody out in the non-striker's end, so will you hold your end of the bargain?' I said, 'No.' Then Ricky Ponting told me, 'We will not run out anybody at the non-striker's end, and we want you to follow it.' I said, 'Okay.' If that is a rule, then I will follow it," he recalled.
"Here, we don't know if there was a conversation with Rathi. But stop this vilification of the youngster in front of crores of people. Do we do that to any other people? Why does a bowler have to look small? It's actually a humiliation. And what will happen is that he will never do this again. It scarred him,” Ashwin concluded.
