KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja, clearly disappointed at India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s recent action of running out England batsman Jos Buttler at the non striker end, has urged authorities to amend the Mankad law to avoid debates in the future.

In a video message on his social media platform, Ramiz added that as captain Ashwin should have set a better example. “Yes, it was within the laws of the game but it was clearly against the spirit of the game,” Ramiz said

“Amendment in the law 41.16 is needed with an official warning clause from the bowler in case a batsman leaves the box prior to the delivery,” he said. “Subsequently the umpire should formally pass on the message to the batsman after which a bowler should be allowed to dismiss a batsman upon recurrence. In this way it will not trigger any debate.”

He however said that Ashwin should have dealt with the event in a better manner. “Since he (Ashwin) was the captain, he should have set a better example. I believe he did it in desperation and will not look back at it fondly.”

Another former captain Rashid Latif said the Mankad law doesnt give liberty to bowlers.“This law aims at preventing batsmen to run down the pitch before delivery of the ball. However it doesn’t mean that bowlers should keep running out the batsmen at non-striker’s,” observed Latif.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2019