Ben Stokes clarified his stance on the whole 'mankad' incident that took the world by storm during Rajasthan Royals' clash against Kings XI Punjab on Sunday at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium.
Ravichandran Ashwin mankadded Jos Buttler in the 13th over of the Rajasthan innings and that got the whole cricket world talking about 'Spirit of the Game' and if it was unsporting on Ashwin's part or not.
However, Ashwin came out in the post-match press conference and defended his action.
"Look it was very instinctive. It wasn't planned or anything like that. It's there within the rules of the game. I don't know from where the understanding of the Spirit of the Game comes," Ashwin said at the post-match press conference.
The mode of dismissal is permissible as per ICC Rule 41.16 of playing conditions, according to which there is no need to warn the batsman as was the case in earlier times.
"Naturally if it's there in the rules, it's there. Probably, we need to go back to the rules," India's premier Test spinner said.
But, people including Shane Warne, Michael Vaughan were not impressed with his actions and said how would he or others react if something had happened to Kohli. Twitterati soon jumped on to the bandwagon and asked Stokes what he would do if he had the chance to do the same with Kohli.
"Hopefully I’m playing in the World Cup final and if @imVkohli is batting when I’m bowling I would never ever ever ever ever ever.....just clarifying to the mentions I’ve received," clarified Stokes on Twitter on Tuesday.
While Stokes had some fun, Warne, Vaughan, Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy had a completely different take to it.
