The game between RCB and LSG was full of turns and twists. Too many runs, too many boundaries, and way too many problems for the RCB bowlers to defend against. The mankad attempt by Harshal Patel was one reason why the game got a lot of attention. In the last over of the game, RCB needed to score 5 runs off of 6 balls to win. At the start of the over, Harshal Patel took a wicket. With that wicket, the team defending only needed one more wicket to win. Then Patel saw that Ravi Bishnoi was trying to leave the non-striker end early, so he tried to run out Ravi Bishnoi with a mankad.
The mankad runout didn’t work, so LSG won the game with ease. But this has brought up the question again of whether or not mankad runout is “morally” right. In 2022, MCC gave mankad a green light and called it “runout.” Harshal Patel is not the first person to try this. Deepti Sharma, a bowler for the Indian women’s team, did this run-out against England. Adam Zampa tried it during the BBL, and then Mohammad Shami did it in the Ind vs Aus series this year. R Ashwin, who has spoken out about this issue, came to help Harshal Patel.
R Ashwin says he is happy Harshal Patel attempted the non-striker run out
The veteran Indian spinner R Ashwin acknowledged that it was good for him to see that players were actually having the courage to go ahead with this. “One ball, one to win. The non-striker is always going to run. I will stop every time and run a batsman out. I don’t see what the problem is. I was just watching the game and telling my wife he (Harshal Patel) should run him out. And he did it. I was so glad and happy that a bowler had the courage to do it and I wish more bowlers do it,” Ashwin said.
Speaking about Harshal Patel, RCB’s 2021 star bowler has not found his groove yet. Despite picking 2 wickets in the previous game, he was the 3rd most expensive bowler for his team. RCB started off the tournament well when they defeated Mumbai Indians in the first game. However, 2 back-to-back losses have affected their net run rate heavily which may cause troubles during qualification. They will next play against Delhi Capitals on 15th April.
