India shouldn't feel the need to justify it by lying about warnings: Heather Knight on Deepti's comments

Photo Courtesy/Official Twitter handle of Heather Knight

Hours after Indias off-spin all-rounder Deepti Sharma said prior warnings were given to Charlie Dean before she was finally run out for backing up too far from the crease in a dramatic finish to the third ODI at Lords, regular England skipper captain Heather Knight has responded to Deepti's comments, stating "no warnings were given" and "India shouldn't feel the need to justify it by lying about warnings." In Saturday's match, which was also legendary pacer Jhulan Goswami's final game in international cricket, England were looking to get an unbelievable win over India, thanks to Charlie's batting efforts and her stand of 35 with Freya Davies for the final wicket.

On the fourth ball of the 44th over, Deepti saw Charlie venturing out of the crease at the non-striker's end while in her delivery stride and knocked the bails off, giving India a 16-run win and 3-0 ODI series sweep over England. Charlie was left in tears after the dismissal ended her gritty knock at 47 and was comforted by Freya, which left the cricketing world divided over the legal mode of the dismissal, with majority of England cricketers calling it against the spirit of the game. After touching down at Kolkata airport, Deepti said,"It was a plan (to do the run-out fo Charlie from non-striker's end), because we had warned her (for leaving the crease early) repeatedly. Whatever we did things was as per the rules and guidelines. We had told the umpires as well. But still she (Charlie Dean) was there (outside the crease). We couldn't do much."

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Through two tweets on Twitter, Heather contested Deepti's claims by writing, "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. But if they're comfortable with the decision to affect the run out, India shouldn't feel the need to justify by lying about warnings." Earlier, on Sunday, while welcoming the debate on the run-out from non-striker's end, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in a statement called for batters to remain in their crease till the time the ball leaves the bowler's hand.

"The Law is clear, as it needs to be for all umpires to be able to easily interpret throughout all levels of the game and at all moments in the game. Cricket is a broad church and the spirit by which it is played is no different. As custodians of the Spirit of Cricket, MCC appreciates its application is interpreted differently across the globe." "Respectful debate is healthy and should continue, as where one person sees the bowler as breaching the Spirit in such examples, another will point at the non-striker gaining an unfair advantage by leaving their ground early." "MCC's message to non-strikers continues to be to remain in their ground until they have seen the ball leave the bowler's hand. Then dismissals, such as the one seen yesterday, cannot happen. Whilst yesterday was indeed an unusual end to an exciting match, it was properly officiated and should not be considered as anything more."

Previously in the year, the MCC amended the game's Laws to move being run out at the non-striker's end from being deemed "unfair play" in Law 41 to "run out" in Law 38. MCC said the change is only due to come into effect from October 1 but "this was done to clarify this matter and to place an onus on batters to ensure that they do not leave the crease at the non-striker's end, prior to a bowler releasing the ball."

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