It is great game awareness by Deepti Sharma: Anjum Chopra

By Vivek Prabhakar Singh
New Delhi [India], September 25 (ANI): Former India captain Anjum Chopra has come out in defence of Deepti Sharma who ran out Charlie Dean for leaving the crease at non-striker's end in the third and final ODI at Lord's as India women's team went on to win the match by 16 runs to clean sweep the series 3-0.
The mode of dismissal called 'mankading' in cricket created a lot of buzz on social media with former English Stuart Broad, Sam Billings, James Anderson etc saying that it is not in the spirit of the game.
"I don't know which people are these and as I say either we are playing by the laws of the game or we are not playing by the laws of the game. It is defined and it is written in black and white. If a batter has hit the shot and he or she has lost the bat in the bargain. As a result she/he gets caught in covers or mid-off. Would you go to bat again saying no you lost the bat. You should have hit it as a six but because the fielder has caught the ball we will give you another chance to bat. Like really is this the spirit of the game. So, I don't know what you are talking about. I understand at the end of the day sports is about camaraderie, recreation and having bondage with fellow players that I completely understand but this is not what we are talking about. We are talking about the laws of the game. We are playing cricket with the laws of the game. Either remove the law that a player cannot be run out in this fashion. I think it is great game awareness by Deepti Sharma because she was involved in that overstepping in the ICC Women's World Cup in New Zealand. So, she was involved there and now here. So, I think it is great game awareness. So, I am in support of my player and I feel an unfair advantage should not have been given to a batter, "said Anjum Chopra while speaking to ANI.
This was the farewell match of veteran India pacer Jhulan Goswami who finished as the highest wicket-taker in women's international cricket. But the talking point became Deepti Sharma's dismissal of Charlie Dean.
"I see no fault of anyone in that is within the laws of the game. She appealed. The umpires gave Charlie Dean out. So, I don't see any controversy being created. If a player is clean bowled, you don't go up with the umpire to check whether the player is bowled or not and then create a controversy oh! You know you are only supposed to dislodge one bail of the stumps. So, I think it is pretty baseless. I see no reason why a controversy should be there. It is very much within the laws. It can happen with an Indian player as well tomorrow. If players from other nationalities can run out another, if he or she is backing up. I saw the game. I have seen ball-by-ball. So, I don't know exactly what happened when but it is pretty irrelevant. I don't see any reasoning for being upset with Deepti Sharma or taking away from the fact that it took the sheen from Jhulan Goswami's last game," said Anjum Chopra. (ANI)