NEW DELHI: Indian star Ravich­andran Ashwin has insisted he has no regrets over his controversial ‘Mankad’ dismissal of England batsman Jos Buttler which sparked a worldwide debate.

“You can’t say that Ashwin is a villain,” the Indian all-rounder insisted in his first interview since the storm erupted after he ran out Buttler at the non-striker’s end in an Indian Premier League game last month.

The Kings XI Punjab skipper has been at the centre of a major cricket controversy for using the ploy made famous by India player Vinoo Mankad in 1947. Mankading, as it has become known, is legal but frowned upon by purists unless the batsman has been warned.

Ashwin, who seemed to have waited for Buttler to leave his crease before clipping off the bails, insisted his “conscience was clear” over the March 25 incident.

“People can say that they believe it is right or wrong, that is their opinion, but you can’t say that Ashwin is a villain. That is not in my character,” Ashwin told the India Today television channel late Thursday.

“There is nothing to defend. It was instinctive. I didn’t plan to wait for Buttler to go out and I will hit [the bails]. He had done that four or five times,” Ashwin said.

“It is in the rules if the batsman goes out of his crease then you can whip the bails off. Nobody told the batsman to stay in the crease, but it his responsibility to stay inside the crease.

“And most importantly my conscience was clear. People who know me well, know that I will never do anything illegal.”

Cricketers and pundits have criticised Ashwin. Even the MCC, the arbiter of cricket laws, released a statement saying that if Ashwin had deliberately waited for Buttler to be out of his crease that would be “unfair”.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2019