Ben Stokes’ states what he would do if Virat Kohli was to be in a mankad position in the World Cup final

Stokes was responding to questions posed to him by the fans.

Published - 26 Mar 2019, 13:46 IST | Updated - 26 Mar 2019, 13:46 IST

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The Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab match of the Indian Premier League 2019 on Monday, March 25 attracted attention for all the wrong reasons after what transpired between Royals’ Jos Buttler and Kings’ Ravichandran Ashwin. The match was going at its regular pace with Buttler batting beautifully and leading RR on a chase of 185 runs to win their opening match of IPL 2019. He had added 78 runs with Ajinkya Rahane for the first wicket and then 30 runs with Sanju Samson for the second wicket before controversy happened.

R Ashwin, bowling the 13th over of the match, ran Buttler out by Mankading him, as the English cricketer left the crease, with the bowler in his delivery stride. Buttler was shocked at what happened and when Ashwin didn’t take the appeal back, the matter was referred to the third umpire and he was given out.

Social media blew up with former cricketers and fans bashing Ashwin for what they thought was unsportsmanlike conduct. From Eoin Morgan, Dale Steyn, Shane Warne to many fans, all found this dismissal in bad taste, as Ashwin had not warned Buttler prior to committing the act.

Ben Stokes reveals what he would have done in a similar scenario

Buttler’s England and Rajasthan Royals’ teammate Ben Stokes is always the one to put forth his opinion on social media and he was goaded by many to speak up on the issue of Ashwin ‘unfairly’ dismissing Jos Buttler, as the act that changed the course of the match in favor of Kings XI Punjab.

Stokes himself has been on the receiving end of a controversial decision when he was given out obstructing the field during an ODI against Australia when he accidently stopped the ball thrown in his direction by the bowler, who was attempting to run him out and the fielding side’s appeal for dismissal was upheld.

Stokes took to Twitter and posted, “Hopefully I’m playing in the World Cup final and if @imVkohli is batting when I’m bowling I would never ever ever ever ever ever…..just clarifying to the mentions I’ve received 😊 #hallabol”

This was in reference to what he would have done if he was bowling and Indian captain Virat Kohli had been found in similar situation in the World Cup final. Stokes implied that he would never have ran Kohli out.

Hopefully I’m playing in the World Cup final and if @imVkohli is batting when I’m bowling I would never ever ever ever ever ever…..just clarifying to the mentions I’ve received 😊 #hallabol
— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) March 26, 2019

Fans reacted to his tweet mostly in an affirmative way and here are some tweets:

Good on you mate.. You've earned respect of everyone https://t.co/57fjIk3N10
— sʜᴀʏᴋʜ🚬 (@ace_shaykh) March 26, 2019

Waiting for Kohli to be halfway down the pitch now against England, they said they won't do anything. Thanks Stokesy. https://t.co/hqtNYtAvxw
— Clive (@vanillawallah) March 26, 2019