‘There are cameras’: Mitchell Starc’s solution to deal with Mankad, says ‘Every time the batter leaves the crease…’
Mitchell Starc provided a solution to deal with the Mankad situation, having recently found himself in some controversy related to it.
Deepti Sharma's run out of Charlie Dean for backing up at the non-striker's end at Lord's ignited a debate surrounding the fairness and spirit of cricket. Australia's Mitchell Starc found himself embroiled in controversy recently when informally warned Jos Buttler about his tendency to leave the non-striker's end before he released the ball. Now the 32-year-old pacer has come up with a solution to end the habit of non-strikers backing up too far without forcing bowlers to create run out chances.
Speaking to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, he said, “While it is hard to do at all levels, why not take it out of the hands of interpretation and make it black and white?”
"There are cameras for front foot no-balls, a camera there all the time [in international cricket] and someone watching the line."
"Every time the batter leaves the crease before the front foot lands, dock them a run. There’s no grey area then. And in T20 cricket where runs are so handy at the back end and games can be decided by, one, two, three runs all the time, if all of a sudden you get docked 20 runs because a batter’s leaving early, you’re going to stop doing it aren’t you?"
"Then there’s no stigma. It’s taken away from the decision to have to run someone out or think about it. If it’s blatant, it is a different story, but I feel like that is at least completely black and white", he further added.
Starc is currently with the Australian cricket team and will feature in his side's T20 World Cup campaign. As hosts, they will open their campaign vs New Zealand on Saturday, in the Super 12 stage.
Starc also revealed that other than Buttler, he has warned seven New Zealand batters too. "I’ve warned batters plenty of times, [Buttler] is not the first occasion", he said.
"I warned probably seven Kiwi batters in those ODI games in the Top End - some were two metres outside their crease."
"As I said to Jos, I could never see myself doing it, but it doesn’t mean that you should then feel free to leave your crease early", he further added.
