New Delhi: Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar on Wednesday hailed the Marylebone Cricket Club’s (MCC) decision to remove run-out at non-striker’s end from unfair play laws even as veteran England pacer Stuart Broad termed the move as “unfair”.
Custodian of cricket laws, the MCC has decided to move the law relating to run-outs at non-striker’s end from its “unfair play” section.
It relates to run-outs at non-striker’s end when batters back up too far and have often triggered heated debates on spirit of the game.
Several players like India’s premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin have advocated for it as a fair mode of dismissal.
Tendulkar said he was always averse to the term used for this dismissal as “Mankaded”.
“New rules have been introduced in cricket by MCC committee and I am quite supportive of couple of them. The first one being Mankading dismissal. I was always uncomfortable with that particular dismissal being called Mankaded,” Tendulkar said in a video message.
“I am really happy that it’s been changed to run out. It always should have been run out according to me. So this is one good news for all of us. I was not comfortable with it all, but that won’t be the case anymore.”
However, Broad termed as “unfair” the MCC’s decision to legitimise ‘Mankading’, a run out dismissal at the non-striker’s end, saying it requires “zero skill”.
“So the Mankad is no longer unfair & is now a legitimate dismissal. Hasn’t it always been a legitimate dismissal & whether it is unfair is subjective? I think it is unfair & wouldn’t consider it, as IMO, dismissing a batter is about skill & the Mankad requires zero skill,” Broad tweeted.
The other change in cricket rules which Tendulkar liked was related to a new batter taking the strike in case of a catch dismissal.
“And the second one where the batter is dismissed, being caught, the new batter has to come and face the ball. The new batter takes the strike.
“It’s absolutely fair because if a bowler has been successful in picking a wicket it’s only fair that a bowler gets a chance to bowl to a new batter. This new rule is a good one and well done on that,” he said.
Beside, the MCC also said that using saliva to shine the ball would be treated as an unfair practice.
Saliva application was barred by the ICC in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and MCC said its research found that applying saliva had no impact on the ball’s movement.
The amendments will not come into force until October
