Kartik ‘Mankads’ county batsman, sparks furore over rare run out

For two seasons, Murali Kartik had called it home. Now, for the first time since leaving Somerset to join Surrey, he was returning to the County Ground at Taunton. He had already proved to be a handful for his former teammates. Somerset needed 318 for a first innings lead, and he had already taken three wickets in three overs to leave them at 167/5.

Wheeling in for the fifth ball of his 14th over on Thursday, Kartik paused. Earlier in the over, he had warned non-striker Alex Barrow that he was backing up too early. Barrow was out of his crease again, so Kartik removed a bail and asked, "Howzzat?"

Umpire Peter Hartley consulted Surrey skipper Gareth Batty, asking him if he wanted to withdraw Kartik's appeal. Batty said no, and Hartley gave Barrow out. And Taunton erupted to boo the dismissal.

Somerset skipper Marcus Trescothick wasn't pleased. "It's not what you come to expect in county cricket - I've never seen it before," he said. "That was quite astonishing and disappointing. The game doesn't need to come to that."

Speaking later, Batty was contrite. "In the heat of the battle I made the decision that, according to the letter of the law, it was the correct decision for him to be out," he said. "People obviously think the spirit of the game has been brought into disrepute — that was not my intention and I thoroughly apologise for that."

But Kartik wasn't apologising. "Everyone get a life please," he tweeted. "If a batsman is out on a stroll in spite of being warned, does that count as being in the spirit of the game?"

The response of another Chennai-born spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, had been similar. After an altercation with Steve Smith during an IPL match this year, Ashwin had removed the bails at the non-striker's end, but Smith had made his ground and the two exchanged words.

... contd.

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