Running the non-striker out, or colloquially called as Mankading is a way of dismissal that splits the cricket fraternity into two. While some call the dismissal a fair one, others call it against the spirit of the game. It caught headlines when India's all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin affected a non-striker run-out against England's Jos Buttler in IPL 2019.
Over the years, it has been used by the bowling side and a few Indians have affected such mode of dismissal. This was last performed by an Indian in women's cricket when Deepti Sharma ran Charlie Dean out in an ODI series between India and England in September 2022.
However, this was attempted in International cricket as late as on 24th August when Afghanistan bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi ran out Pakistan batter Shadab Khan on the non-striker's end in a tense ODI clash in Sri Lanka.
What is the history of Mankading?
The history of Mankading dates 76 years back when India's great all-rounder Vinoo Mankad ran out Australia's Bill Brown in this style in 1947 in a Sydney Test. It was done by Australia's Greg Chappell for the first time in ODIs when he ran out England's Brian Luckhurst in 1974-75. In T20 cricket, the dismissal took place in the Asia Cup Qualifier when Amir Kaleem ran out Mark Chapman.
What are the rules for it?
Mankading has always been a legal way of dismissal even though the spirit of cricket cries have emerged from some sections of the cricket fraternity. The Marylebone Cricket Club, which is the custodian of the laws has written the law. MCC made a tweak to the law in March 2022 and put it under the 'run-out' section from the previous 'unfair play' section. It was moved from Law 41 (unfair play) to Law 38 (Runout).
It is part of Law 38 and states, "At any time from the moment the ball comes into play until the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, the non-striker is liable to be run out if he/she is out of his/her ground. In these circumstances, the non-striker will be out run out if he/she is out of his/her ground when his/her wicket is put down by the bowler throwing the ball at the stumps or by the bowler’s hand holding the ball, whether or not the ball is subsequently delivered."
Amendments to the law
MCC made amendments to the law in 2017 and rephrased it in 2019. Earlier "Bowler attempting to run out non-striker before delivery" was used in the law but it was replaced with "Non-striker leaving their ground early". This was done to put the onus on "the non-striker to remain in their ground". It saw another change in 2017. Earlier, a bowler was allowed to affect such type of run-out only before entering in his delivery mode, which could grant an unfair advantage to a batter. This was changed to a bowler is allowed to run out the batter "at any point before he releases the ball provided he has not completed his delivery swing".
In 2019, the wording saw a little rephrasing to again put the onus on the batters. From "the bowler is permitted to run [the non-striker] out", MCC rephrased Law 41.16 to "the non-striker is liable to be run out."
Here's the complete law with amendments:
38.3.1 At any time from the moment the ball comes into play until the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, the non-striker is liable to be run out if he/she is out of his/her ground. In these circumstances, the non-striker will be out run out if he/she is out of his/her ground when his/her wicket is put down by the bowler throwing the ball at the stumps or by the bowler’s hand holding the ball, whether or not the ball is subsequently delivered.
38.3.1.1 The instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball is defined as the moment the bowler’s arm reaches the highest point of his/her normal bowling action in the delivery swing.
38.3.1.2 Even if the non-striker had left his/her ground before the instant at which the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, once the bowler has reached that point it is no longer possible for the bowler to run out the non-striker under this Law.
