AB de Villiers sorry for Jos Buttler, says he wasn’t trying to ‘steal a run’ during R Ashwin Mankad incident
It’s been a few days since the Mankading incident created an uproar in the cricket fraternity, with many slamming Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) captain Ravichandran Ashwin for running out the non-striker Jos Buttler without even issuing a single warning. Now Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) stalwart AB de Villiers has also reacted on the incident, suggesting he feels sorry for the way Buttler was run out as he wasn’t trying to do anything unfair.
In his column for Times of India, De Villiers mentioned about the exciting start the IPL season 12 has gotten off to. Andre Russell has guided Kolkata Knight Riders to victories in the first two games with his explosive batting, while Ashwin’s act of Mankading has had the cricketing fraternity divided.
“The 2019 IPL has enjoyed a fantastic start. Andre Russell’s dazzling blast of 49 runs from 19 balls propelled KKR to victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad and set a high standard for the batters, while R Ashwin’s run-out of Jos Buttler at the non-striker’s end provided controversy and a major talking-point,” De Villiers wrote.
The need for the Mankad rule to be clarified has been expressed by many current and former cricketers. The former Proteas skipper also revealed that he felt sorry for the Englishman considering he wasn’t trying to steal a run there.
“I felt sorry for Buttler because he wasn’t trying to steal a run, and Ashwin did nothing wrong because he was operating within the laws. It’s still a grey area, and Law 41.16 needs to be clarified. Either running a batsman out at the non-striker’s end is legal or it isn’t — can somebody please decide,” the 35-year-old added.
The KKR vs KXIP clash also saw an occasion where Andre Russell could’ve Mankaded Mayank Agarwal during the match. The KXIP batsman was out of the crease much before the bowler was to release the ball. No such run-out incident, however, took place there.
