IPL 2020: R Ashwin follows Ricky Ponting's advice, doesn’t ‘Mankad’ Finch for leaving his crease

Delhi Capitals off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin gave Royal Challengers Bangalore opener Aaron Finch a warning for leaving his crease in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 match in Dubai on Monday (October 5).

The incident happened in the third over of RCB's innings, when Finch was caught well outside the crease by Ashwin at the non-striker’s end, but he didn’t attempt to ‘Mankad’ Finch and allowed him to return to his crease.

After the match, Ashwin tweeted,“Let’s make it clear !! First and final warning for 2020. I am making it official and don’t blame me later on. @RickyPonting #runout #nonstriker @AaronFinch5 and I are good buddies btw.,” he wrote on Twitter.

Let’s make it clear !! First and final warning for 2020. I am making it official and don’t blame me later on. @RickyPonting #runout #nonstriker @AaronFinch5 and I are good buddies btw. #IPL2020 — Ashwin (@ashwinravi99) October 5, 2020

It may be recalled that before the start of IPL 2020, Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting had spoken to Ashwin on 'Mankading' and has asked him not to ‘Mankad’ any non-striker.

Ashwin grabbed headlines in 2019 when he 'Mankaded' Jos Buttler. Ashiwn's action sparked a debate over "spirit of cricket". Ponting too did not support Ashwin's action.

"There's ways that you can actually stop batsmen cheating like that. If the bowler was to stop and the batsman was a foot out of his crease for instance, you just penalise him some runs or something. Do that and then they won't do it again," Ponting said during a Youtube conversation with Ashwin. "You've only got to do that once at the start of a tournament and then all the players see it, and I guarantee that players won't be fudging any ground from there on.

"I chatted to some of the match referees about it during last year's IPL as well. If the umpires make a stance and do something to actually warn the batsman that they might be cheating, then that's better than having the ugly incident of a mankad," he added.