Introduction
March 25, 2019. Punjab Kings versus Rajasthan Royals at Mohali. With RR chasing down a target, Jos Buttler was batting brilliantly. PBKS captain R. Ashwin was bowling. On a ball that Buttler expected to be bowled, Ashwin stopped at the crease and removed the bails — Buttler had backed up too far. The umpire gave him out. Buttler walked off. The Mankad dismissal — legal under cricket law, controversial in cricket culture — became one of the most argued-about moments in IPL history. The debate it triggered eventually led to the MCC changing the laws of cricket themselves.
What Happened — The Match and the Moment
RR were chasing 185 and Buttler was in magnificent form — he had 69 runs from 43 balls and was on course to win the match almost single-handedly. Ashwin was struggling to contain him. On the delivery where the Mankad happened, Buttler had backed up just outside his crease at the non-striker’s end as Ashwin ran into his delivery stride. Ashwin, instead of releasing the ball, stopped and removed the bails at the non-striker’s end. Buttler was out of his crease and had no ground. He was given out. Buttler and RR were furious. Ashwin was unapologetic, citing the cricket law that explicitly permits this mode of dismissal. PBKS won the match by 14 runs.
The Global Debate That Followed
What followed the dismissal was one of cricket’s most sustained debates about the difference between what is legal and what is within the spirit of the game. Former cricketers lined up on both sides. Those defending Ashwin argued that Buttler’s backing-up gave him an unfair running start that bowlers were entitled to prevent. Those criticising Ashwin argued that the convention in cricket was to warn a batsman before dismissing them this way — that acting without warning was unsportsmanlike. The debate was essentially unresolvable because it was a values disagreement rather than a factual one. Cricket eventually resolved it structurally: the MCC moved the Mankad dismissal from the ‘Unfair Play’ section of the laws to the ‘Run Out’ section — making it unambiguously legitimate and removing the ‘spirit of the game’ argument against it.
The Twist — Ashwin and Buttler as Teammates
The most remarkable postscript to the Ashwin-Buttler IPL controversy is that the two principal figures were teammates at Rajasthan Royals in 2022. They won the IPL Final together that year — two players who had been the focus of cricket’s most heated sporting ethics debate, competing together for the same franchise. Both handled the reunion with visible grace and humour. The relationship between them has, by all accounts, been entirely professional and warm. Cricket sometimes produces the best endings to its most uncomfortable stories: the Mankad controversy that divided the sport was resolved not just by a law change but by two grown men finding a way to be good teammates despite everything.
DID YOU KNOW? Following the Ashwin-Buttler Mankad, the MCC changed the Laws of Cricket in 2022 to move the non-striker runout from ‘Unfair Play’ (Law 41) to ‘Run Out’ (Law 38). The change made the dismissal unambiguously legitimate and removed the ‘spirit of the game’ objection that Buttler’s supporters had used.
Final Verdict One controversial dismissal. A global debate about sport’s unwritten rules. A law change. Then the two protagonists as teammates. The Ashwin-Buttler Mankad is one of cricket’s most complete stories — with an ending that reminded everyone that sport, at its best, moves on.