A major controversy marred the fourth IPL game between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab. The controversial incident happened in the 13th over when Ravi Ashwin ‘mankaded’ Jos Buttler.
Till that point Rajasthan Royals looked set to overcome the target of 185. Both Jos Buttler and Ajinkya Rahane gave a solid start to the team. They added 78 runs for the first wicket before Ashwin bowled Rahane.
However Buttler managed to go on and in the process got to his fifty in 29 deliveries. Buttler was batting on 69 when Ashwin decided to take the bails off at the non-striker’s end as Buttler left the crease even before the ball was bowled.
After the incident the Royals fell apart and lost the game by 14 runs. They collapsed from 148 for 2 in the 16th over to 170 for 9 at the end. It was Royals’ first loss against KXIP at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
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Upton shares his views
While the entire cricketing fraternity shared their views, Rajasthan Royals coach Paddy Upton also chipped in. In the post-match conference he praised his players for keeping their heads high. He also praised them for their reaction after the incident.
“Jos Buttler was amazing while he was batting and for a lot of the game we batted like we wanted and really set ourselves up for victory,” he said. “I thought the players were able to stay focussed and reset themselves after that run out. I was very happy with the players themselves, the way they acted and responded to that situation. And our conscious decision was to hold our heads up high and maintain our dignity as a team.”
Upton further took a dig at Ashwin saying that his action ‘speak for him and represent him’. However he didn’t crticize the KXIP skipper as he said that the cricketing world would judge him.
“I think R Ashwin’s actions tonight speak for him and represent him. When I looked in the eyes of his teammates, I’m not sure it represented his teammates. We’ll leave it up to the IPL fans to decide if that’s the kind of thing they want to see, and we’ll leave it up to the cricket world to judge R Ashwin’s actions tonight. But for us, we certainly are here just to play cricket and entertain the fans and just be good role models for people who love the game,” said Upton.