England captain Heather Knight accuses India of LYING – after Deepti Sharma’s controversial ‘Mankad’
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England captain Heather Knight accuses India of needlessly LIE over the controversial ‘Mankad’ ending to their Lord’s ODI that has divided the cricketing world
- England’s Heather Knight said India ‘needlessly lies’ after their recent win
- India won the one-day international series against England 3-0 on Saturday
- The final match was won after the visitors sent Charlie Dean away with a ‘Mankad’
- Piers Morgan sparked the outrage on Twitter calling it a ‘pathetic’ way to win a match
- Indian bowler Deepti Sharma, who chased Dean away, insisted she had given warnings
- But House Captain Knight insisted that Sharma’s claims about Dean’s warning are not true
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Heather Knight has questioned India about ‘needless lying’ about the controversial end of their one-day international series against England.
India sealed a 3-0 win with a 16-run win over Lord’s on Saturday, the last wicket coming via Deepti Sharma’s ‘Mankad’ over Charlie Dean, sparking outrage online.
Bowler Sharma has since claimed she gave Dean ‘repeated warnings’ about leaving her tuck before rushing her to the non-striker side – but England captain Knight, who is currently injured, accused the visitors of lying about the incident.
England captain Heather Knight has accused India of ‘lying’ about their controversial ‘Mankad’
Deepti Sharma walked out Charlie Dean (left) at the end of the non-rush hour in a controversial incident
Sharma (center) said she gave Dean “repeated warnings” – a claim Knight questioned
She tweeted: “The game is over, Charlie was rightfully fired. India were deserved winners of the competition and the series. But no warnings were given. They don’t have to be given, so it doesn’t make the dismissal any less legitimate.
“But if they’re comfortable with the decision to influence the runout, India shouldn’t feel the need to justify it by lying about warnings,” followed by a shrug of the shoulders emoji.
Sharma had told reporters after the team arrived in Kolkata: ‘It was a plan because we warned her’ [for leaving the crease early] repeatedly.
“We did it according to the rules and guidelines. We also told the referees, but she was there [outside the crease]. We couldn’t do much.’
A tweet from cricket journalist Peter Della Penna claimed that Dean had left her fold early 73 times from the non-rush hour end, more than 85 per cent of the balls where she started at the non-rush hour end.
England had struggled in their 170 chase to win the third and final ODI, but were rebuilding well with a 10th-wicket partnership of 35 between Dean and Freya Davies.
Dean was left in tears and had to be comforted by teammate Freya Davies (right) on the pitch
Dean was finally all smiles again and was comforted again by head coach Lisa Keightley
With the duo doing well and 39 balls remaining, it looked like England could recover and take an impressive win over an Indian side that had already won the series. Sharma then feigned bowling before pulling back from her delivery step and knocking the stirrups off.
While it’s a legal dismissal and completely within the rules, some feel it goes against the spirit of the game. The action resulted in booing on the ground and Dean was in tears as India celebrated, while TV presenter Piers Morgan left furious.
He said, ‘Absolutely pathetic way to ‘win’ a cricket match. The whole Indian team should be ashamed of themselves.’
Several cricket stars expressed their views on the matter, including England bowler Stuart Broad, who tweeted: ‘I personally wouldn’t want to win a match like that.’
His opinion was shared by wicketkeeper Sam Billings, who wrote: ‘There is certainly no person who has played the game who thinks this is acceptable. Just no cricket.’
Billings then posted a still image of the controversial moment, with the caption: “Not even looking the other way in delivery step.”
England wicketkeeper Sam Billings claimed it wasn’t true, saying it was ‘just not cricket’
His England teammates Jimmy Anderson and Alex Hales responded to Billings’ social media post
England’s leading wicket taker in Test cricket James Anderson replied to Billings’ first comment: ‘Spot on. Not going to bowl the ball.’
However, Alex Hales, who was recently recalled to the England squad after a three-year hiatus, said: “It shouldn’t be difficult for the non-striker to stay in their fold until the ball has left the hand.”
Sharma’s teammate Harmanpreet Kaur said in a post-match interview: “It’s part of the game. We haven’t done anything new.
“It’s part of the ICC rules and it just shows your awareness. I will support my players and in the end a win is a win.”
Images show Dean was in her groove until moments before bail was removed, seemingly not in an attempt to gain an advantage.
The laws recently changed to state the bowler was required to be in the lead-up to perform a non-striker before the ball was thrown, following several controversial incidents.