'You can't use that word here': Styris' ingenious warning after Gayle namedrops 'Mankad'; Kumble's reaction is gold
Scott Styris and Anil Kumble had cheeky reactions after Chris Gayle namedropped ‘Mankad’ while taking about Ravichandran Ashwin.
The Rajasthan Royals took on Punjab Kings in their second match of the 2023 Indian Premier League on Wednesday. The side had made a winning start to the season last week when it thrashed the Sunrisers Hyderabad by 72 runs. It was an all-round performance from the Royals as they became the first team in the season to cross the 200-run mark, and then restricted the SRH to just 131/8 in 20 overs to register a convincing win.
Yuzvendra Chahal led a solid performance from the Royals in the game as he picked four wickets, conceding only 17 runs. His spin-twin, Ravichandran Ashwin also took the important wicket of Glenn Philipps in the match.
The duo had played a key role for the side throughout its previous year's campaign in the tournament, when the Royals had finished runners-up. Ashwin, in addition to his brilliant skills, has also made a name for his out-of-the-box approaches to enforce dismissals including running out the non-striker, more commonly known as ‘Mankad’.
The dismissal continues to cause furore in the cricketing community but Ashwin has remained a staunch supporter for the same. Last year, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) included the dismissal in the ‘Run out’ section in the rulebook; despite this, the decision has attracted criticism from a number of former and active cricketers.
During a pre-match show ahead of Rajasthan Royals' second match of the season against Punjab Kings, Chris Gayle spoke about Ashwin in detail and also namedropped ‘Mankad’, adding that batters need to be careful around the spinner.
“Ashwin has had a lot of success against the top-order. He's very experienced, he can bowl the carrom ball. It's not like he can only bowl the off-spin. He has very good variations, he is a very tricky bowler. He can Mankad as well. So, you have to be careful! You got to take all these things into perspective when you're facing someone like Ashwin,” Gayle said on JioCinema.
To this, former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris had a rather interesting remark. “You can't use that word over here!” the former cricketer said sheepishly.
The other former players in the expert panels – Anil Kumble and AB de Villers – collectively said, “It's a run out!” to which both, Gayle and Styris, agreed.
Interestingly, during the match against PBKS, Ashwin warned Dhawan against a run out at non-striker's end as well.