Josh Hazlewood said that he would save it for Cheteshwar Pujara. (Source: AP)
Mankading remains a debatable and controversial dismissal in cricket. Once again it recently was hogged the limelight when Afghanistan U-19 bowler Noor Ahmad Lakanwal had mankaded Pakistan’s Mohammad Huraira in the ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa.
While Mankad is a legitimate mode of dismissal, the majority in cricket fraternity consider it against the law of the gentlemen’s game.
Recently, during Cricket Australia awards Australian pace bowler Josh Hazlewood was asked about his thoughts on the same, to which he said in jest that he would save it for Cheteshwar Pujara when the Indian team visits Australia later this year.
🗣 “I hope I don’t find myself in that situation.” – Meg Lanning
🗣 “I reckon I’ll save that one for the next time … at Pujara.” – Josh Hazlewood@gradecricketer chats with the Aussies about the Mankad 😅 pic.twitter.com/8pSpWSU8a6
— #7Cricket (@7Cricket) February 19, 2020
Pujara then responded with his own tweet-
Thanks for the heads up Josh, I might have to include it in my preparation 😂😂😂 https://t.co/GILpI2dXUn
— cheteshwar pujara (@cheteshwar1) February 20, 2020
Interestingly, Hazlewood along with fellow Australian seamer Pat Cummins voiced their disapproval of R Ashwin’s ‘Mankad’ run out in IPL 2019, with Hazlewood calling for the controversial mode of dismissal to be struck out of cricket’s law book.
“I’m not happy with it at all. I don’t think it should be in the game, to be honest. Maybe if the batters really start to take advantage, then the umpire needs to step in,” Hazlewood had told ‘The Unplayable Podcast’