Bangladesh uphold no-Mankad policy

Sports Desk News :: Right before the fourth ball of the 46th over, Bangladesh pacer Hasan Mahmud saw Ish Sodhi leave the non-striking end early and opted to knock the bails off.

On official papers, such dismissals are considered run outs but unofficially, it’s called Mankading, named after Vinoo Mankad, who had first picked up such a wicket.

Bangladesh, in their cricketing history, never opted to do that before Hasan did so on Saturday, and replays showed Sodhi was out of the crease and run out.

However, once the magic three-letter word popped up on the giant screen, Bangladesh skipper Liton Das decided to withdraw their appeal, leading to Sodhi returning with a smiling face and a hug to Hasan.

Sodhi, who was on 17 off 26 balls at that point, ended up scoring 35 off 39 balls, meaning he added 18 runs in the next 13 balls to take New Zealand to 254.

The result of this match was yet to be determined, but missed opportunities for such run outs must take Bangladesh back to 2003, when left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique opted not to run Umar Gul out at the non-striking end in Multan.

Bangladesh ended up losing the match in Multan by a heartbreaking one-wicket defeat, but Rafique was hailed for protecting the sporting spirit.

With Liton withdrawing the appeal, Bangladesh kept their history of not opting to run batsmen out at the non-striking end, although the dismissal was totally legitimate by the books.

In September last year, the ICC changed such wickets from ‘Unfair Play’ to run outs, meaning that the wicket was totally legitimate.

Yet, there have been several debates in the cricketing fraternity regarding similar dismissals, with the most recent over-the-top media attention to such an incident happening last year when India women’s national team off-spinner Deepti Sharma ran out England’s Charlie Dean.

In total, there have been five such run outs in men’s ODIs, four in men’s Tests, and one-time each in men’s T20Is, women’s ODIs, and women’s T20Is.

The latest of the five such run outs in ODI cricket came last month when Shadab Khan was out at the non-striker’s end when Fazalhaq Farooqi took off the bails.

Hasan could have been the sixth to do so, but his captain denied him that chance.

Hasan, who already earned a reputation for not celebrating a wicket too much, had to remain content with the hug he got from Sodhi and being the 14th player to not give the team a breakthrough in this manner.