England batter Jonny Bairstow’s contentious dismissal during the second Ashes Test at Lord’s has become the talk of the town.
On Sunday (July 2), Bairstow was dismissed in a bizarre manner during the 52nd over of England’s second innings. Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey stumped him out when he was wandering out of his crease after ducking a Cameron Green bouncer.
After the incident, the English media and their former cricketers slammed the Australian team for not keeping with the spirit of the game.
Amid the outrage, veteran India spinner R Ashwin has also chipped in with his viewpoint, saying that Carey was at no fault and Bairstow paid the price for not following 'basic' rules.
Ashwin, who has drawn a lot of flak for inflicting controversial dismissals in the past, mentioned in a tweet that Carey noticed a pattern in Bairstow stepping out before making a move to hit the stumps.
The ace off-spinner pointed out a couple of basic rules that Bairstow and England failed to abide by, first one being the communication a batter needs to have with the keeper before leaving the crease.
"A debate regarding that Bairstow dismissal is that since it was the last ball of the over, it seems he left that delivery and came to the non-striker end to have a chat. Take a look at the replay again. Alex Carey didn't wait for a second to hit the stumps. He knew Bairstow will leave the crease and that's why he threw at the stumps immediately. Bairstow didn't take a single look behind and started leaving his crease," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
"It's the most basic stuff, guys. Follow the ball and then leave the crease. Even now in Ranji Trophy and international cricket, the batsman will always look at the keeper and slip fielder, ask their permission and only then leave the crease. That's because the keeper and the slip-cordon can still do it. That is absolutely allowed within the rules of the game. Since the game was in the balance, I can understand the crowd going on with it. Other than that, I don't think there is anything wrong with what Carey did. He correctly utilised seeing the pattern of what Bairstow usually does," he added.
Ashwin brought to notice another law that Bairstow and the hosts failed to follow.
"The next thing is about the last ball of the over and that's why he started leaving the crease. After the end of the over, until the umpire calls 'OVER!', there over is not completed," he remarked.
"Only once he says so and the ball rests and there is no further action possible from the ball, it will be considered a dead ball. Until then, the only responsibility of the batter is to protect his crease. Here, the umpire didn't say 'Over', so Carey hit the stumps and the umpire ruled him out."
Having lost the first two Tests, England are trailing 0-2 to Australia in the five-match Ashes series. The third Test will get underway on July 6 at Headingley.
