Skipper's shady response to Mankad question

Jos Buttler is once again in the middle of a Mankad controversy, after he was warned by Mitchell Starc early in the clash between Australia and England in Canberra on Friday night.

With England 1-35 in the fifth over, Starc sent a thunderbolt down to Dawid Malan, who defended the ball back to Starc.

Starc fielded the ball before turning around to Buttler and saying something to him.

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While the full conversation wasn't picked up by stump mics, what could be clearly heard was Starc telling Buttler "you went early", and Buttler's reply "I don't think I did".

Although marginal, Buttler – who has been run-out via Mankad twice in his career – was indeed out of his crease at the point the ball was released.

For each remaining ball of the over, he was well inside his crease while still backing up.

After the match, Aussie skipper Aaron Finch was asked if he would endorse one of his bowlers employing the tactic – to which he simply replied "great question", according to ESPNcricinfo.

"I think if batters get a warning then it's fair game after that," he said.

"That would go for most teams, I assume, if you give the batter a warning that they are getting a little too much ground before the ball is bowled.

"But I'm not a big fan of it, to be fair, personally."

Finch said he didn't notice the exchange between the pair.

Buttler was first Mankadded in a one-dayer against Sri Lanka at Edgbaston in 2014 having twice been warned by Sachithra Senanayake.

Then in 2019, Ravi Ashwin dismissed him the same way during the 2019 IPL.

While it has always been legal, the ICC earlier this year moved the rule appendage covering the Mankad from the section covering 'unfair play', to that describing the run-out as a mode of dismissal. The changes came into effect on October 1.

English batter Charlie Dean was last month brought to tears after she was Mankadded by Indian spinner Deepti Sharma in the last ODI of their series at Lord's.

Sharma was into her delivery stride when she caught England batter Charlie Dean backing up too far and whipped the bails off, and condemnation of the move was swiftly condemned.

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