Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: It has been seven years since the controversial ‘Mankading’ run-out incident involving Ravichandran Ashwin and Jos Buttler during an IPL 2019 match between Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals. Ashwin, then playing for Punjab, ran Buttler out at the non-striker’s end, sparking heated exchanges between the players and reigniting the spirit-of-cricket debate.Buttler was given out and left the field visibly upset.Seven years on, the incident has once again come up for discussion, with Ashwin maintaining that he did nothing wrong.“If the ICC felt this was an honesty problem, they wouldn’t keep it in the rules. If you need two runs off one ball and you start running early, whose fault is it?,” Ashwin said on JioStar’s The Ravichandran Ashwin Experience.“People say I did it to win. Of course, I did it to win. What is there to be ashamed of?“After I ran him out, I told the team… ‘don’t worry about the reaction, I will handle the media, we just have to win.’ And we won. So, there is no issue of character in this,” he said. ASHWIN’S ONLY REGRETWith 187 wickets from 221 matches in an IPL career spanning 2009 to 2025 across five franchises, Ashwin admitted he could not quite make Punjab Kings his own despite leading them in 2018–19, but described his stint with Rajasthan Royals as the most fulfilling.“When Punjab picked me in 2018, I knew I was moving on… I spent two years there and honestly gave it everything.“But I have a slight feeling that I couldn’t make that team my own. At an auction, you get the chance to build your team… the team couldn’t quite be built around me. I may not have achieved much as a Captain, but the learnings were immense.”On his time with Rajasthan Royals, he added: “I spent three years there, and that stint helped me make a comeback to the Indian team. The way RR utilised me was first-class, and I enjoyed my cricket there like nowhere else.“My only small regret is that I couldn’t win a title with RR… That was one small regret,” he said.
