Ravichandran Ashwin on Sunday angered cricket fans across the globe after he claimed a catch that wasn’t during the crucial India-Pakistan match in the ongoing T20 Cricket World Cup. The Indian bowler was also booed during the T20 World Cup clash in Melbourne.
Mohammed Shami had bowled a bouncer to Pakistan’s Shan Masood, who attempted a hook in the direction of R Ashwin, who was fielding at the fine leg. Ashwin claimed to take the catch cleanly as India began to celebrate given that Pakistan had already lost their two top batters namely Mohammed Rizwan and skipper Babar Azam.
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However, the matter was referred to the third umpire for review. The TV replay showed that the ball had clearly hit the turf before Ravichandran Ashwin got his hands underneath to scoop it up. Masood survived but Ashwin the development set the internet on fire as fans began to shame Ashwin for ‘cheating.’
Ashwin thought dropping catch and pretending it's out will get him wicket like mankad
— Haroon (@ThisHaroon) October 23, 2022
Ashwin and cheating, name a better love story.
— Abdullah (@michaelscottfc) October 23, 2022
Does Ashwin’s wife know that her husband is a cheater?
— Saad (@Noobiy12) October 23, 2022
Ashwin bhai – didn’t expect you to be a cheater
— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) October 23, 2022
CHEATER
NEXT WE WILL SEE A INDIAKAD
— Dennistan v India (@DennisCricket_) October 23, 2022
Ashwin getting booed !! Cheater, Cheater, Cheater 😂
— Owais (@iiOwais08) October 23, 2022
Ashwin Anna will turn out as a cheater, never expected that
— Ahsan (@ahsanzawar) October 23, 2022
lmao Ashwin literally picked up the ball from the ground cheater cheater pumpkin eater
— Dr. Smurf (@Foureyedreview) October 23, 2022
Those watching the match in the stadium too booed Ashwin by repeatedly chanting the ‘cheater’ slogan.
Ashwin had earlier earned notoriety by resorting to Mankading to dismiss the non-striker batter. More recently, when Deepti Sharma faced widespread criticism for using the Mankading method to dismiss England’s Charlie Dean, Ashwin too had found his name being dragged to controversy for his past actions.
Earlier, in another match, Sri Lanka defeated Ireland comfortably to register their first match in the Super 12.