Afghanistan fast bowler pulls off controversial mankad

We hope Ricky Ponting wasn’t watching cricket in Afghanistan when a fast bowler pulled off a dirty deed to grab a vital wicket.

Bowlers are taking back the power.

Mankads have made their way to Afghanistan.

Fast bowler Dawlat Zadran pulled off the controversial move to run out Noor Ali Zadran during a T20 match in the Shpageeza League in the capital city of Kabul.

Watch every ball of Australia’s Tour of England Live & On-Demand on Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your free trial now & start streaming instantly >

The Kabul Eagles were chasing 164 for victory when Zadran wandered out of his crease at the non-striker’s end in the 16th over and paid the ultimate price.

Running in to bowl, Dawlat noticed Zadran had gone AWOL and whipped the bails off before delivering the ball.

After the match Afghanistan captain Farhan Zakhil said the act was not “in the spirit of the game”.

Mankading is the most divisive move in cricket and while technically not illegal, is frowned upon by many. It refers to the bowler running out the batter at the non-striker’s end before delivering the ball if they notice the willow-wielder has backed-up too far and left their crease.

The dismissal 👇pic.twitter.com/PwQXjROR0E

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) September 8, 2020

We’re not sure how much former Australian captain Ricky Ponting watches of the Shpageeza League but if he caught the incident, he won’t have liked what he saw.

Last month the cricket legend reiterated he’s no fan of Mankading — and will tell Indian star Ravi Ashwin as much when he coaches the off-spinner at the Delhi Capitals at this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL).

Ashwin is an advocate of the Mankad, sparking huge controversy in last year’s IPL by dismissing England’s Jos Buttler in that fashion, and has been vocal ever since about bowlers having the right to take such action to stop batters gaining an unfair advantage by walking down the pitch before setting off for a run.

But Ponting won’t tolerate that in his team.

“I’ll be having a chat with him about (Mankading), that’s the first thing I’ll do,” Ponting said on The Grade Cricketer podcast.

“Obviously, he wasn’t in our squad last year, he’s one of our players that we tried to afford to bring in this year.

“Look, he’s a terrific bowler, and he’s done a great job in the IPL for a long period of time now, but I must admit watching that last season, as soon as it happened and he did that, I actually sat our boys down and said, ‘Look, I know he’s done it, there’ll be others around the tournament who’ll think about doing this as well but that’s not going to be the way that we play our cricket. We won’t be doing that’.

RELATED: Optical illusion in dicey Smith moment

RELATED: Have Aussies found their missing T20 link?

Ravi Ashwin makes no apologies about his actions.

“So, that’s going to be a conversation and that’s going to be a hard conversation I will have to have with him, but I’m pretty sure he’ll take it on the chin.

“I think, even him, looking back now, probably he’d say it was within the rules and he’s right to do it, but this is not within the spirit of the game, not in the way I want, at least with the Delhi Capitals anyway.”

Ponting would rather see teams cop a runs penalty if batters at the non-striker’s end are guilty of leaving their crease early.

He believes that would discourage the practice and at the same time eliminate the need for bowlers to take action into their own hands.