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Veteran Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin shared his opinions on the runout controversy in the IPL 2025 clash between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Ekana Cricket Stadium on May 27. Notably, while RCB were chasing a target of 228 runs, LSG spinner attempted a run out against Jitesh Sharma as RCB’s stand-in captain was standing out of the crease. However, it was given not out by third umpire and LSG captain Rishabh Pant also cancelled the appeal after Rathi confirmed that he is making an appeal.
R. Ashwin, who grabbed the headlines several times for his mankading acts on the cricketing field several times, wasn’t happy with Rishabh Pant after he cancelled Digvesh Rathi’s appeal. The 38-year-old felt that Pant insulted his player as he isn’t well known for now in the cricketing fraternity.
“This could be Digvesh Rathi’s final game. It must have left a scar on a bowler that it will really affect him. Nobody really cares about a bowler, so it’s easy to insult a bowler in front of a million people. Let’s talk about cricket for a second. According to the law of the game, it went upstairs, the umpire said not-out and it is not-out. There’s absolutely no scene of withdrawing,” Ashwin said.
Captain’s job is actually to back a player: R. Ashwin
Speaking further, R. Ashwin also reflected on the captain's duty for their player. He feels that Rishabh Pant would have discussed it with Digvesh Rathi before cancelling the appeal. “Captain’s job is actually to back a player. A captain’s job is not to make a bowler feel small. By making this decision of pulling away an appeal, ye pehle karna chahiye tha (should have discussed earlier),” Ashwin said.
“We don’t know if they discussed, but let’s stop this vilification of that youngster in front of crores and crores of people. Do we do that to anybody else? Why does a bowler look small? It is actually a humiliation," he further added.
