“Play By The Laws And…”: Ex-Australia Star Weighs In On Deepti Sharma’s Run-Out

Former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie gave his take on the debate and said that playing by the laws will always be the solution and nowhere it is mentioned that a warning needs to be given.

Charlie Dean’s run-out at the hands of Deepti Sharma at the non-striker’s end because she was backing up too far ahead when the ball was not even delivered, has garnered some real attention and the cricket fraternity continues to be divided on whether it is within the spirit of the game. The incident took another turn on Monday after Deepti Sharma revealed that Team India had given Dean a warning, and when she chose to venture out of her crease repeatedly, they decided to run her out.

“It was our plan because she was leaving the crease repeatedly. We have even warned her. So, whatever we did was according to the rules and regulations,” Deepti Sharma said. “We had told the umpires too. But she was still doing it, so we had no other option.”

However, after this, England’s designated captain Heather Knight said that no warning was given and Team India should not be “lying”.

“The game is over; Charlie was dismissed legitimately. India were deserved winners of the match and the series. But no warnings were given. They don’t need to be given, so it hasn’t made the dismissal any less legitimate,” she said in a tweet.

“But if they’re comfortable with the decision to affect the run-out, India shouldn’t feel the need to justify it by lying about warnings.”

To Knight’s tweet, former England captain Michael Vaughan replied: “Surely we should just ask the umpire whether a warning was given.”

It was then that former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie jumped in, and said that playing by the laws will always be the solution and nowhere it is mentioned that a warning needs to be given.

“Sorry- there is nothing in the laws that says a warning should ever be given for unfair play. Play by the laws and the game will take care of itself,” tweeted Gillespie

In another tweet, he said: “Lots of opinions on this topic, and I respect everyone’s thoughts. However, while there is huge disagreement worldwide on what is and isn’t within the ‘spirit of cricket’ surely abiding by the laws of the game is the solution.”

The Marylebone Cricket Club — the custodians of the laws of cricket – came out with a statement yet again clarifying their stance on the subject. The MCC had earlier this year moved the mode of dismissal from the ‘unfair play’ section of their laws to the ‘run out’ section, and the ICC is set to also adopt that change from October 1.

“MCC this year announced amendments to the laws of cricket to move being run out at the non-striker’s end, from law 41 unfair play, to law 38 run out,” the statement stated.