Mankad dismissal of Jos Buttler was "within the rules", says R Ashwin amid IPL rumpus

Buttler was well set on 69 during Rajasthan Royals' chase of 185 against Kings XI Punjab in the 13th over when he strayed out of his crease as the non-striker during Ashwin's delivery stride

R Ashwin has insisted his Mankad dismissal of Jos Buttler was "instinctive" and "within the rules" amid global debate about Monday's incident in the Indian Premier League.

Buttler was well set on 69 during Rajasthan Royals' chase of 185 against Kings XI Punjab in the 13th over when he strayed out of his crease as the non-striker during Ashwin's delivery stride.

The Kings XI captain stopped in his action, turned and flicked off the bails, with the third umpire ruling it a fair dismissal.

Buttler, who has been out via the same method previously in his career, was furious. And the talking point has been hotly debated among current and former pros, and fans in the hours since.

Law 41.6, which was amended as recently as April 2017, says: "If the non-striker is out of his/her ground from the moment the ball comes into play to the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, the bowler is permitted to attempt to run him/her out."

^{The controversial incident occurred in the 13th over of the game between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals}

Buttler, who was seen to be out of his crease during Ashwin's delivery stride on several occasions prior to his dismissal, could be argued to have still had his bat safely behind the line when the bowler's front foot landed. But Ashwin believes he did nothing wrong.

"Look, it was very instinctive. It was not planned or anything like that. It's there within the rules of the game. I don't understand where the spirit of the game comes. Naturally if it's there in the rules it's there," he said after the match.

"I don't understand the point of sporting or sportive in that point because it's rules."

The cricket world has been divided by the matter.

Shane Warne, an ambassador for Rajasthan Royals, was livid and vented his anger on social media.

He wrote on Twitter: "So disappointed in @ashwinravi99 as a Captain & as a person. All captains sign the #IPL wall & agree to play in the spirit of the game. RA had no intention of delivering the ball - so it should have been called a dead ball. Over to u BCCI - this a not a good look for the #IPL.

"Ashwin’s actions were simply disgraceful, and I hope the BCCI doesn’t condone this sort of behaviour in the #IPL

"As Captain of your side - you set the standard of the way the team wants to play & what the team stands for ! Why do such a disgraceful & low act like that tonight ? You must live with yourself & FYI - it’s to late to say sorry Mr Ashwin. You will be remembered for that low act.

Shane Warne, left, was furious at the nature of Jos Buttler's dismissal

"This win at all costs mentality has got to stop & the integrity of the game along with the spirit of the game must be of the most importance, as we need to set examples to the young boys & girls playing cricket!"

Buttler's Royals teammate Jofra Archer posted a tweet, later deleted, which claimed Ashwin showed "no confidence in yourself or your bowlers to get the job done so you resort to that ? #greatcaptaincy" but Archer's current Sussex coach Jason Gillespie disagreed.

"If you don’t go over the speed limit in your car, you don’t get pinged by the speed camera," he wrote.

Rajasthan coach Paddy Upton was not amused by the incident and appeared to have words with Ashwin during the team handshakes at the end of the game.

He later said: "I think R Ashwin's actions tonight speak for him and represent him. When I looked in the eyes of his teammates, I'm not sure it represented his teammates. We'll leave it up to the IPL fans to decide if that's the kind of thing they want to see, and we'll leave it up to the cricket world to judge R Ashwin's actions tonight. But for us, we certainly are here just to play cricket and entertain the fans and just be good role models for people who love the game."

The MCC have yet to make formal comment on the matter but Laws manager Fraser Stewart remarked on Monday: "The confusion here is when is the moment that R.A. would normally have been expected to release the ball?

"Might need superimposed footage of earlier released deliveries to actually tell. The old adage of 'watching the hand for release' is not a bad one - only leave after release."