Custodians of cricket the Marylebone Cricket Club have issued a "call for calm" surrounding the legitimacy and spirit of run-out dismissals at the bowler's end, colloquially known as a 'Mankad'.
Named after former Indian all-rounder and ICC Hall of Fame member Mulvantrai Himmatlal 'Vinoo' Mankad due to the spinner's choice to dismiss Australian opener Bill Brown twice after creeping from his crease during India's 1947-48 tour of Australia, controversy surrounding the method still swirls.
On Australian shores, spinner Adam Zampa attempted to dismiss non-striker Tom Rogers during a recent BBL derby between the Melbourne Stars and Renegades at the MCG.
Tempers flared and tears flowed during India and England women's white-ball series in 2022 after spinner Deepti Sharma took Charlie Dean's wicket to give India a 3-0 win.
RELATED: Is the 'Mankad' debate just a question of culture?
With fears that the method will continue to be adopted by park cricketers around the globe, the MCC spoke in an effort to pour water on rippling flames, backing the legitimacy of the method and calling for calm.
โThe WCC โฆ (MCC's World Cricket committee) is now calling for calm across all levels of the game, from the grassroots level of recreational cricket to the elite level, given that the act of running out a non-striker who opts to steal ground is within the laws of the game,โ the law-maker's wrote.
MCC chairman and former English captain Mike Gatting went a step further, stressing that batters, and not bowlers, were at fault when non-striker's end run-outs occurred.
โOur stance on this is simple โ batters must not steal ground if they do not wish to be given out in this manner,โ he said.
โNor should they be expecting to be given a warning if they do.โ
