IPL 2019: David Warner takes a cheeky dig at Ravi Ashwin's 'Mankad' incident
Sunrisers Hyderabad's opener David Warner is in the form of his life. In 6 games so far, the southpaw has amassed 349 runs at an average of 87.25. His unbeaten knock of 70*(62) went in vain as the Kings XI Punjab crossed the finishing line with a ball to spare, winning the game by 6 wickets. But Warner was in the news for his extra cautious approach against Ravi Ashwin.
The mankad incident featuring Ashwin and Jos Buttler made headlines earlier in this edition of the IPL. Hence, Warner was seen taking necessary measures while the spinner was introduced into the attack.
Warner took a cheeky dig at the bowler by dragging his bat inside the non-striker's crease while he set himself for a run. The incident took place in the sixth over of the Sunrisers' innings. It was a subtle way of sending a message to Ashwin as many believed the bowler was at fault for not offering a warning to Buttler.
However, Ashwin has no regrets as he feels it was instinctive and he backs his action. "People can say that they believe it is right or wrong, that is their opinion, but you can't say that Ashwin is a villain. That is not in my character," Ashwin told the India Today television channel.
"There is nothing to defend. It was instinctive. I didn't plan to wait for Buttler to go out and I will hit (the bails). He had done that four or five times," he added.
Warner's witty attempt to remind Ashwin of the incident didn't go unnoticed as the footage went viral post the match. It hardly had any effect on the spinner as he bowled an economical spell. Ashwin scalped the wicket of Vijay Shankar and conceded just 30 runs in his 4 overs. Punjab restricted the visitors to 150/4 before chasing down the total after a few jitters.
Punjab's opener KL Rahul scored a match-winning 71* and was adjudged the man of the match. The win took Punjab to the third spot in the points table while SRH are just below them, at the fourth position.
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