‘Coming from you?’ – Twitter rips apart Stuart Broad after he questions Deepti Sharma’s ‘Spirit of Cricket’

The controversial ‘Mankad’ has once again rocked the cricketing fraternity after last night’s game between England women and Indian women. With the game heading off to a thrilling finish as England needed 17 off 39 balls having just one wicket in hand, Deepti Sharma decided to run out Charlotte Dean who had backed up too far when Sharma was in her delivery stride.

The dismissal meant that India sealed a clean-sweep win in the three-match series; however, as usual with such a dismissal, it drew mixed reactions from the cricket fraternity. While some praised Deepti for her sharp presence of mind, a host of English cricketers criticised the tactic citing ‘spirit of cricket’.

England Test Cricketer Stuart Broad also expressed his disappointment on the mode of dismissal and called it terrible. He Tweeted, “A run out? Terrible way to Finish the game.” However, what Deepti did is well within the laws of the game.

The ICC recently made some changes to this rule. The new Playing Conditions list the act of a bowler attempting a run out at the non-striker’s end under the ‘Run Out’ section (Law 38). Previously, this was listed under ‘Unfair Play’ (Law 41).

After the match at the Home of Cricket, Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian skipper backed Deepti and said that what she did was well within the laws of the game. She also lauded the all-rounder for showing great presence of mind under extreme pressure.

“It’s part of the game. I don’t think we have done something new. It shows your awareness, what batters are doing. I will back my players, she hasn’t done something outside the rules. After the first game we discussed, we wanted to do really well, we have that much potential. We want to continue this kind of cricket,” Harmanpreet said.

With this win, the Indian team gave a winning farewell to the veteran seamer Jhulan Goswami who was playing her last international game yesterday. After being bowled out for 169, India managed to defend the score and bowled England out for 153 in 43.3 overs. Renuka Singh became the Player of the Match for her four-wicket haul at the iconic venue in London.

Stuart Broad’s comment didn’t go down well with the fans who reminded him of several controversial moments involving the English team. Here are some of the reactions to Broad’s Tweet: