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England captain accuses India of lying about warnings to Charlie Dean before Mankad run-out

Charlie Dean walks away after being Mankaded on Saturday at Lord's - GETTY IMAGES
Charlie Dean walks away after being Mankaded on Saturday at Lord's - GETTY IMAGES

England captain Heather Knight has accused India of lying about warning Charlie Dean over leaving her crease as the Mankad controversy that engulfed Saturday's ODI at Lord's took a new twist.

This morning, India bowler Deepti Sharma revealed she had alerted England batter Dean about leaving her crease before running her out in cricket’s latest ‘Mankad’ incident.

Sharma was booed by the crowd at Lord’s on Saturday when she ran Dean out at the non-striker’s end to win the third ODI.

In an attempt to justify 'Mankading', Sharma revealed she spoke to Dean before running her out and it was India’s plan to do it if she continued to leave her crease. Dean was left in tears after the incident.

“It was our plan because she was leaving the crease repeatedly. We have even warned her. So, whatever we did was according to the rules and regulations," Sharma said when she arrived back in Kolkata on Monday. "We had told the umpires too. But she was still doing it, so we had no other option."

However, Knight has rubbished Sharma's claims, tweeting: "The game is over, Charlie was dismissed legitimately. India were deserved winners of the match and the series. But no warnings were given. They don’t need to be given, so it hasn’t made the dismissal any less legitimate.

"But if they’re comfortable with the decision to affect the run out, India shouldn’t feel the need to justify it by lying about warnings."

The Mankad divides opinion in cricket like no other issue. Stuart Broad and Sam Billings were current England players to question its use over the weekend and former England captain Michael Vaughan said it “stinks” to see a match won that way.

But in a series of posts on Twitter, the ESPNCricinfo journalist Peter Della Penna showed just how often Dean left her crease early – 73 times from the non-striker's end, including the ball that brought her dismissal.

Ravi Ashwin, the India off-spinner who once Mankadad Jos Buttler in an IPL match, said Sharma should receive a bravery award for being willing to take the criticism.

“How about awarding that wicket to the bowler for 'presence of mind' under immense pressure and of course knowing the social stigma that he/she would have to deal with post doing it. How about a bravery award to go with it too,” he wrote in response to Billings on Twitter, below.

The MCC recently moved the dismissal from the unfair play section of the laws to run out and reiterated its legality over the weekend. “MCC’s message to non-strikers continues to be to remain in their ground until they have seen the ball leave the bowler’s hand,” said MCC in a statement.

“Then dismissals, such as the one seen yesterday, cannot happen. Whilst yesterday was indeed an unusual end to an exciting match, it was properly officiated and should not be considered as anything more.”

It added: “Respectful debate is healthy and should continue, as where one person sees the bowler as breaching the Spirit in such examples, another will point at the non-striker gaining an unfair advantage by leaving their ground early.”