‘I’m not Deepti but...’ - Mitchell Starc's words to Jos Buttler starts fiery exchange, sparks non-striker run out debate
After the match, the broadcasters revealed what was said between the two players at that moments which turned out to be a fiery exchange.
Australia's shot at pulling one back in the three-match series against England was washed away due to rain in Canberra leading to a no result in the final T20I match of the contest. England hence claimed a series win against the defending T20 champions before the start of the World Cup in Australia. Yet the entire talking point was about the episode between Mitchell Starc and Jos Buttler during England's innings where the Australia pacer threatened to run out England captain at the non-striker's end, but left the batter with just a mere warning. After the match, the broadcasters revealed what was said between the two players at that moments which turned out to be a fiery exchange.
The incident happened in the fifth over of the rain-interrupted match when Starc sent down the fourth delivery to Dawid Malan and the batter jabbed it back towards him. He collected the ball, turned back and immediately pointed towards Buttler warning him to not leave the crease early.
The stump mic caught Starc saying, “I'm not Deepti, but I won't do it. That doesn't mean you can leave early," referring to the Indian women's cricketer Deepti Sharma's run out of England batter Charlotte Dean during an ODI series match at the Lord's last month.
Buttler replied saying, “I don't think I did.”
Running out batters at non-striker's end by bowlers in their delivery stride if a batter is backing up, has been long part of MCC laws and this form of dismissal is no longer considered unfair play under the new set of laws announced by them. Yet, Deepti's act had sparked a massive debate over spirit of cricket.
“No, I am calling the batsman back,” Buttler had said last month a few days after Deepti's dismissal of Dean. “No one wants to see [mankads] in the game because they always create such a talking point when it should be about the battle between bat and ball and watching great games of cricket. They always seem to happen at unsavoury times.”
