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Cricket

Deepti Sharma's 'Aswathama' moment: 'Spirit of cricket' lies in tatters

Did Deepti Sharma lie about the warning given to the England batter before running her out? A needless question has been brought to the forefront due to the abuse of the term 'spirit of cricket'.

Deepti Sharmas Aswathama moment: Spirit of cricket lies in tatters
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Deepti Sharma runs out Charlotte Dean at the non-striker's end while bowling during India's 3rd ODI vs England (Screenshot)

By

Dipankar Lahiri

Updated: 26 Sep 2022 1:40 PM GMT

Deepti Sharma's claim that England's Charlotte Dean was warned by the Indian team before she was run out backing up at the non-striker's end has given new life to the 'spirit of cricket' drama.

England's full-time captain Heather Knight claimed on Monday that Deepti Sharma was lying about the warning.

"No warnings were given. They don't need to be given, so it hasn't made the dismissal any less legitimate. But if they're comfortable with the decision to affect (sic) the run out, India shouldn't feel the need to justify it by lying about warnings," she tweeted.

A closer look at the 'lie' can throw some light on the 'spirit of cricket' crisis in the modern sport. The abstractness of the term, always open to interpretation, has often made it a spectre on the sport, but never so much as now, when the term has been abused more than ever before.

Whereas the 'spirit' in earlier (pre-DRS) years possibly had a connotation of stoicism - of accepting the umpire's decision - now it has been reduced to a means of moral posturing, the currency of the social media age.

And so the incident continues to be dragged on, instead of it having been buried with the umpire's decision - overshadowing Jhulan Goswami's retirement, overshadowing that India have become the first Asian side to whitewash England in a bilateral series in women's cricket.

The 'lie'

"That was our plan, because she was repeatedly…we warned her also. We played according to the rules," Deepti Sharma said on being asked about the last wicket as she landed in Kolkata on Monday morning.

A counter question came soon after, asking her to confirm specifically whether Charlotte Dean had been warned.

Deepti first requested that the question be repeated. Then she said, "Yes, yes we said it because…we had told the umpires."

She never took the batter's name.

This was also the first time someone from the Indian camp had said anything about a warning. Harmanpreet Kaur, when being interrogated about the wicket at the post-match presentation ceremony, had come up with a response worthy of a hardened statesman. But even she had not mentioned anything about a warning.

In the extended match highlights, there is no evidence to back up the claim that the Indian players had a word with Dean.

For all purposes, it would seem the Indian team did not have a problem with Dean stealing an advantage on any of the 72 times she stepped out early. Till they did on the 73rd occasion, as the match seemed in danger of slipping away, when Deepti Sharma bowled with just 16 runs to defend.

Aswathama the elephant

In Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, one of the turning points in the battle is when Dronacharya is vanquished as a result of the most famous half-truth in Indian mythology. On Krishna's advice that the truth must be sacrificed for the battle to be won, the honest Yudhisthira deceives Dronacharya.

As Dronacharya asks him to confirm a rumour of his son Aswathama's death, Yudisthira replies, "Yes," before trailing off inaudibly, "Aswathama the elephant."

A poor elephant, who was unfortunate enough to share its name with Dronacharya's son, was the one unlucky victim of that episode. If Deepti Sharma's half-truth at the airport makes her the Yudhisthira of the run out, the poor elephant must be the 'spirit of cricket' - having suffered countless jabs over the past two days.

That Deepti Sharma was grilled about the warning left her with little option but to equivocate, saying finally that the umpires had been warned. But that is how the news mill must run.

No rulebook mentions that the bowler must give a warning, but this is one of the figments of imagination which the nebulous nature of 'spirit of cricket' helps propagate.

Somehow, that Charlotte Dean could also have warned the Indian team that she would be trying to steal a few inches on 85% of the balls she would be at the non-striker's end was not suggested by the British commentators on air as they expressed their disappointment on how the game ended.

Culture war

The British commentators part of Sky's broadcast team calling the match were left severely disappointed by the nature of the wicket. Even the England men's team, not known to be the staunchest supporters of the women's team, quickly jumped into the fight to criticise Deepti Sharma. All but Alex Hales.

Moral posturing is of course an essential British pastime owing to the history of oppression they feel the compulsion to whitewash, but there is perhaps also an element of sports culture in this most recent war.

In the last decade or so, the players who have effected such run outs are Ravichandran Ashwin, Murali Kartik, Deepti Sharma, Keemo Paul, Noor Ahmad, Dawlat Zadran and Sachitra Senanayake.

The racist connotation of labelling the dismissal as 'Mankading' after an Indian cricketer cannot have any justification, but it would seem it is seen as a morally acceptable form more in the former colonies at the edge of the erstwhile British Empire.

This perhaps is down to the difference between an average amateur cricketer in countries like England - where a Sunday League cricketer can still waddle down to the field every week and rack up statistics - and in the Indian subcontinent - where there is a cut-throat nature to the competition even in floodlit tape-ball tournaments.

For a non-striker to wander out of his crease is a cardinal sin for the average subcontinental cricketer. To keep his bat grounded behind the crease is a natural part of his game awareness.

As for English cricketers, the quicker they adapt to the changed requirements of the game - which includes that the non-striker always be aware of the crease till the ball has been released - the better it will be for them to keep up with world standards.

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