‘Mankading’ moved to ‘run out’ from ‘unfair play’, use of saliva on ball banned

LONDON (TIP): Custodian of cricket laws, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), has decided to move the law relating to run-outs at non-striker’s end from its “unfair play” section besides completely banning the use of saliva to shine the ball in amendments to its 2022 code that will come into effect in October. Run-outs at non-striker’s end when batters back up too far have often triggered heated debates on the spirit of the game and several players like India‘s premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin have advocated for it as a fair mode of dismissal. “Law 41.16 – running out the non-striker – has been moved from Law 41 (Unfair play) to Law 38 (Run out). The wording of the Law remains the same,” the MCC said in a media statement late on Tuesday. It was in 1948 when the dismissal first came to be known. Indian legend Vinoo Mankad ran out Australian wicketkeeper Bill Brown at the non-striker’s end after duly warning him for backing up too far. The Australian media dubbed it as ‘Mankading’, a name that stuck in popular parlance but was vehemently opposed by legends like Sunil Gavaskar for being “disrespectful” towards Mankad. The MCC also said that using saliva to shine the ball would be treated as an unfair practice.