More than the legendary Jhulan Goswami's farewell and India's historic ODI series clean sweep over England in their own backyard, the entire cynosure of third ODI was the final dismissal that handed Harmanpreet Kaur-led side the memorable win at the iconic Lord's. Deepti Sharma had ran out Charlotte Dean at the non-striker's end in the 44th over of England's chase when the hosts required only 17 off the last 38 balls. The dismissal, despite being well within the laws of the game, sparked a massive ‘Spirit of cricket’ debate. Along with most veterans and experts of the game, former Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Asif too joined the debate to criticise Deepti, but was endlessly trolled for his tweet.
Taking to Twitter, Asif posted a picture of the dismissal in a bid to allege that Deepti “cheated” by not showing the intention to bowl but had the intention to dislodge the bails on the non-striker's end. He furthered criticised the India all-rounder by calling her act “unfair and terrible”.
ALSO READ: MCC gives verdict on Deepti Sharma's run-out of Charlotte Dean in India vs England Lord's ODI
"We can see it clearly there is no intention of bowling the ball, she is looking towards non striker batter to cheat him. This is very unfair & terrible act worst spirit. #mankading #mankad #Cheater #INDvsENG," he tweeted.
The tweet did not go down well with fans on Twitter. While some re-shared the video of the entire dismissal for him to check, most reminded him of the spot-fixing scandal he was involved in back in 2011. Here is how Twitter reacted…
{{/usCountry}}The tweet did not go down well with fans on Twitter. While some re-shared the video of the entire dismissal for him to check, most reminded him of the spot-fixing scandal he was involved in back in 2011. Here is how Twitter reacted…
{{/usCountry}}The MCC, the guardians of the laws of cricket, on Sunday stamped its seal of approval on Deepti's run out of Dean at the non-striker's end. "Whilst yesterday was indeed an unusual end to an exciting match, it was properly officiated and should not be considered as anything more," the MCC said in a statement. "MCC's message to non-strikers continues to be to remain in their ground until they have seen the ball leave the bowler's hand. Then dismissals, such as the one seen yesterday, cannot happen."