Ravi Shastri shares his thoughts on run-out at non-striker's end, asserts batter is ‘cheating’ for leaving crease early

India all-rounder Deepti Sharma’s run out of England’s Charlotte Dean at the non-striker’s end has generated a lot of polarising reactions on social media and has left the cricketing fraternity divided as some think that bowlers have the right to punish a non-striker for backing up too far before the delivery has been bowled by running them out, while some believe that it is against the ‘ Spirit of The Game’ even though MCC has officially declared the mode of dismissal as legal, once and for all banning the term ‘Mankad’ or ‘Mankading’. Now, almost after two months of Deepti dismissing Dean, former India cricketer and coach Ravi Shastri has shared his thoughts on such type of run-out while asserting that he is in favour of the practice. Shastri even added that if he was the coach, he would instruct his players to knock the bails off without any hesitation. “My thoughts are very clear. It’s a law. A batsman has no business to be wandering out of his crease before the ball is bowled. And the law in cricket says that if you are doing that, the bowler is perfectly entitled to take the bails off. I know that the rule of ‘Mankad’ or ‘Mankading’ was there was a long time and a lot of players are still trying to come to terms with that new law, whether they should be taking off the bails but as a coach, I would tell my players ‘Just go out and do it. It’s a law. You’re not cheating, you’re not doing anything that is not part of the game. Batsman should know his business,” Shastri said in an interview with Fox Sports. Shastri went onto say that if the batter is walking out of the crease before the ball is being bowled then he/she is cheating. “There is an outrage but it’s because that law did not exist earlier. But my argument is that even if it had existed, I don’t believe this practice when you warn the player the first time and the second time you can do it. It’s like me telling a fielder, ‘You’ve dropped me once. Second time you can catch it’. If it’s a law that says it is cheating. It is cheating because if you’re going out of crease, you are trying to steal an advantage over the opposition and the bowler. So you jolly well, hold your ground,” he added. When asked whether the world of cricket will witness more of such run-out in the time to come, Shastri said: “With one run to win, and one ball to go, if the non-striker is out of his ground, you think any bowler is not going to take off those bails? He will, rest assured.”