'You scar a bowler': Ashwin reminds Rishabh Pant 'captain’s job' with hot take on Digvesh Rathi-Jitesh Sharma Mankad

Ashwin reminds Rishabh Pant 'captain’s job' with hot take on Digvesh Rathi-Jitesh Sharma Mankad (PTI Photo)

Digvesh Rathi has gained many admirers after his maiden stint in the IPL, which saw him finish as the highest wicket-taker from the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) camp. Rathi scalped 14 scalps in 13 matches and was also the most economical among them. However, the bowler often found himself in hot water for his on-field conduct mostly related to his trademark notebook celebration, deemed controversial by the IPL officials.

But this time Rathi is in news for another on-field antics, in which he neither violated any rule, but many condemned it to be against the spirit of the game. The incident occurred in the eventful 17th over between LSG and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), which the latter won by six wickets at the Ekana Stadium in the City of Nawabs.

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Rathi executed a Mankad against RCB's match-winner Jitesh Sharma in the over, which was declared not-out by the third umpire. However, even before the decision flashed on the giant screen, LSG skipper Rishabh Pant decided to withdraw the appeal, while the bowler wanted to go through it.

Ravichandran Ashwin, who previously found himself in similar territory over a Mankad incident involving Jos Buttler in 2019, has joined the debate and backed the bowler's action. However, during the discussion he vehemently opposed Pant's reaction, and reminded the LSG skipper that "a captain’s job is actually to back a player".

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Ashwin shared his views while speaking on his YouTube channel on Wednesday and here's what he had to say:

“Rishabh Pant is a fantastic cricketer. What a fantastic innings he played, he made 118, fabulous knock. And this will not be the first, this will not be the last. Rishabh Pant will go on to do some great things on a cricketing field. I am a big fan of Rishabh Pant.

“But just imagine Digvesh Rathi is your son, and his captain has criticised his decision in front of crores of people. It’s actually gone over the board. Because a captain’s job is actually to back a player. It is actually a humiliation. What happens is a bowler feels so small that he will never do it [again]. And people will come and say in the comments here that he should not do it. Why? Why should it not be done?

“Digvesh Rathi is not my relative, he is not my friend. I don’t know who he is. But I am saying, you scar a bowler so much by doing this, that it will really affect him. But because nobody really cares about a bowler, in front of crores of people the appeal will be withdrawn and he can be insulted like this.

"Let’s talk about cricket for a second. According to the Laws of the Game, it went upstairs, the umpire said not out, and it is not out. There is no scene of withdrawal [of the appeal] in this.”

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Ashwin then reminisced his moment with Buttler and suggested a way to avoid such disagreement between a bowler and his captain. “After the incident between me and Jos Buttler happened, I talked with Delhi Capitals captain Shreyas Iyer when I was Kings XI Punjab captain.

“He said, ‘We will not run anybody out at the non-striker end, will you also hold up your end of that bargain?’ I said no. Next year, I joined Delhi Capitals and [coach] Ricky Ponting said, ‘We would not like to run anybody out at the non-striker’s end, and we want you to follow it.’ I said okay, if this is your rule, I am in with you guys.

“Here, Digvesh Rathi did this. We don’t know if this was discussed internally beforehand. But let’s stop this vilification of that youngster in front of crores and crores of people. Do we do that to anybody else? Why does a bowler look small?”