Punam Raut
Star India batter Smriti Mandhana was surprised that Punam Raut chose to walk even before waiting for the on-field umpire's decision but said she gained a lot of respect from her teammates by doing so on day two of the day/night Test against Australia here on Friday.
Raut walked off after a caught behind appeal despite the umpire not entertaining Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning's loud shouts. Since there is no DRS in the series, Australia would not have been able to review the not out call.
Raut's act ignited an intense debate on spirit of cricket on social media, dividing opinions.
"At first our reaction was, 'oh why did she do that, was there an edge?' But yeah, it's something we respect a lot. She's earned a lot of respect for actually walking out," said Mandhana, who became the first Indian women to score a century in Australia.
"I don't know how many people will actually do that in cricket at the moment, men's or women's if there's no DRS. Nowadays people walk out because there's DRS, but to walk off when there is no DRS - I don't know (how many would). Definitely, she's earned a lot of respect from all of us for doing that," said the southpaw.
A lot of time has been lost in the four-day game due to rains with India reaching 276 for five at stumps on day two.
Mandhana said her team is not in a position to declare yet.
"Well actually it's very difficult to plan because the rain has played such an important factor today and yesterday.
"We've almost lost a day's play altogether off the four we have. And in the last (hour) we lost two wickets, so tomorrow morning we'll have to start stabilising the innings. Then, from there, we'll have a launchpad from where we can actually declare.
"If there were two set batters out there, we would have had a different plan maybe, but at the moment we'd look to stabilise initially and then maybe think when to launch or about declaration. But I don't think we're in the state yet to think about (declaration)."
With her sublime hundred, Mandhana broke a 72-year-old record with her 127 being the highest ever score from a visiting batter.
"...Pretty special do something like breaking a 70-year old record - I don't think I've done something like that ever in my life. I am just more than happy that I could actually give that kind of foundation for the team.
"The individual feats will happen, but the kind of position the team is in - I'm happy with that more," she said.
