Former India Test cricketers Mohammad Kaif and Aakash Chopra disagreed with each other over social media regarding the "Mankading" rule after the instance of Afghanistan U-19 spinner Noor Ahmed running out Pakistan's Mohammad Huraira while backing up too far in the ongoing junior World Cup's quarterfinal on Friday (January 31) got the world cricket debating over its legitimacy once again.
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While Chopra has no issue with it, being part of the legalised forms of dismissals, Kaif finds the bowler's act here against the spirit of the game, to stress which he cited the example of Trevor Chappell's underarm bowling incident many years back.
"Have never been a fan of this mode of dismissal, didn’t ever encourage my bowlers to do this, neither at the U19 WC nor while captaining my state side. This may be legal, but so was the Trevor Chappell underarm, right? Reckon the @ICC will have to look at the law at some point," Kaif tweeted.
Chopra, on his part, asked why are questions raised on the moral of the bowler and not the runner despite him trying to gain an unfair advantage and the former only upholding the laws of the game.
"On the contrary, @ICC has already looked into it multiple times and defined Laws accordingly. Isn’t taking a start before the ball is bowled shortening the pitch to take unfair advantage for running between the wickets?" he quoted tweeted Kaif.
Kaif then put his argument in a different manner saying that with the rule always triggering debates whenever it is upheld, there must be something morally wrong about it. "Dear Aakash, a stable cricket Law would not invite such contentious debates every time it is invoked. The fact that an incident like this inevitably divides opinions, implies that it may need a relook. Hence, my suggestion," he replied.
Chopra, though, stood firm with his view. "Brother, unfortunately, we still haven’t evolved as a cricket audience," he wrote. "Debates are good. But eventually, the right thing should be done and adhered to. It’s already too much of a batsman’s game."
