Eminent Indian journalist and commentator Harsha Bhogle has slammed and criticized the England media and players who have been criticizing and maligning Deepti Sharma just because she ran out Charlie Dean in a fair and lawful way in the third and final ODI between England and India Women at Lord’s last Saturday.
Charlie Dean, who was the last hope of England saving some face in the series which India led 2-0, was run out by Deepti at the non-strikers’ end, which also ended the match with India winning by 16 runs and clean sweeping England for the first time in their own backyard, and at the home of cricket.
This led to a meltdown of sorts by the England media and several former and current cricketers who criticized Deepti for running out Dean, who made 47 runs. Heather Knight, the regular England captain even called Deepti and the Indian team liars for saying they warned Dean beforehand.
Later it was revealed by ESPNCricinfo’s Peter Della Penna in a Twitter thread, that Charlie Dean had moved out of crease at the bowling end a whopping 72 times, before being run out on the 73rd attempt.
Deepti Sharma and India captain Harmanpreet Kaur clarified that Dean was warned multiple times and everything was done as per the laws. The custodians MCC also backed Deepti on the issue as this form of dismissal is now termed as a run out and moved out from unfair play.
The Indian cricket fraternity and media have supported Deepti Sharma and she even got support from the likes of Alex Hales, Jason Gillespie, and others.
And now Harsha Bhogle rained hellfire and said that he was disturbed by the vitriol spewed by English media on Deepti Sharma who did something which is allowed by the laws of the game, which ironically were made by England, who invented the game.
He tweeted a thread that read: “I find it very disturbing that a very large section of the media in England is asking questions of a girl who played by the laws of the game & none at all of another who was gaining an illegal advantage and was a habitual offender. That includes reasonable people & I think.
it is a cultural thing. The English thought it was wrong to do so & because they ruled over a large part of the cricket world, they told everyone it was wrong. The colonial domination was so powerful that few questioned it. As a result, the mindset still is that what England considers wrong should be considered wrong by the rest of the cricket world, much like the "line" the Aussies say you must not cross having decided what the line should be which is fine in their culture but may not be for others.”
In the end, he posted: “As in society, where judges implement the law of the land, so too in cricket. But I remain disturbed by the vitriol directed towards Deepti. She played by the laws of the game and criticism of what she did must stop.”
