Virender Sehwag Tags Ravichandran Ashwin In Hilarious Tweet After Amendments In Cricket Laws

Trust Virender Sehwag to always see the funny side of things. The former India opener tagged Ravichandran Ashwin in his latest tweet, congratulating the India off-spinner after MCC, the custodian of cricket laws, amended some laws of the game on Wednesday. One of the noted ones was its decision to move the law relating to run outs at non-striker's end from "unfair play" section besides completely banning the use of saliva to shine the ball in amendments to its 2022 code that will come into effect in October. Run outs at non-striker's end have often triggered heated debates on spirit of the game and several players like India's premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin have advocated for it as a fair mode of dismissal.

Indicating that, Sehwag took to Twitter and said Ashwin will now have “full freedom” to plot run outs with England wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler.

"Congratulations @ashwinravi99, great week this one. First becoming second highest wicket taker in Tests for India, and now this. Ab full freedom (Now you have complete freedom) to plot such run-outs with Buttler. Ek karna zaroor (Be sure to do one)"

Congratulations @ashwinravi99, great week this one. First becoming second highest wicket taker in Tests for India, and now this. Ab full freedom to plot such run-outs with Buttler.
Ek karna zaroor ???? https://t.co/oCjfYdr6nr

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) March 9, 2022

Ashwin and Buttler are set to turn up for the same team – Rajasthan Royals – in IPL 2022 after the off-spinner was picked up by RR in the auction.

The India cricketer and the England keeper have a fair bit of history between them related to run outs at the non-striker's end. Ashwin, the Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) captain then, had mankaded Buttler in IPL 2019 that sparked a huge debate among fans and experts.

Ashwin since then has defended his stance multiple times on public platforms.

This new amendment in the laws is certain to please the likes of Ashwin.  

"Law 41.16 – running out the non-striker – has been moved from Law 41 (Unfair play) to Law 38 (Run out). The wording of the Law remains the same," the MCC said in a media statement late on Tuesday.

The MCC also said that using saliva to shine the ball would be treated as an unfair practice. Saliva application was barred by the ICC in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and MCC said its research found that applying saliva had no impact on the ball's movement.

"The new Laws will not permit the use of saliva on the ball, which also removes any grey areas of fielders eating sugary sweets to alter their saliva to apply to the ball. Using saliva will be treated the same way as any other unfair methods of changing the condition of the ball," it asserted.

(With PTI inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

Virender Sehwag Ravichandran Ashwin Jos Buttler Rajasthan Royals Cricket