Cricket news - Let the cricket world judge Ashwin's actions - Upton

Rajasthan coach Paddy Upton said that the team decided to "hold their heads up high and maintain their dignity as a team" as a reaction to the Jos Buttler-R Ashwin mankading incident that marred the fourth match of IPL 2019 and the first one in Jaipur.

Buttler was controversially given out after Ashwin, bowling his final over, decided to manked him deeming him to have left the crease when he was yet to deliver the ball. The dismissal sparked off angry reactions from Buttler, who spoke with Ashwin quite animatedly before walking off the ground livid.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Paddy Upton said he was very happy with how his players reacted to the situation.

"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 themeselves after that run out. I was very happy with the players themselves, the way they acted and responded to that situation. And our concious decision was to hold our heads up high and maintain our dignity as a team."

"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.

There has been some debate over the dismissal itself, with many questioning if Buttler had actually left the crease when Ashwin stopped in his delivery stride. Posed with a similar question, Upton said he would like to revisit the dismissal and take a close look at the legality of it.

"I would still like to go and have a close look at the legality of it. But for us, the reality is Ashwin appealed and the umpire gave it out. That's what we need to deal with. As I said, his actions represent him and speak for himself and it's upto the fans and the cricket world to judge for themselves. And the legality is a separate issue, and probably a lot of teams are going to look more closely at that issue. I'd like to hope that the rest of the IPL continues in the spirit that we're all here to come here and enjoy."

Ashwin, on his part, said that he saw Buttler leave the crease even before he could load up to bowl and that the decision to mankad him was instinctive.

"No real argument to that (Mankading incident) and it's pretty instinctive. I actually didn't load and he left the crease. That's always been my take on it because it's my half of the crease. I was not even at the crease, he wasn't even looking at me and he just left the place," Ashwin had said in the post-match presentation.

The incident turned out to be a big game changer, as Rajasthan Royals slumped from a promising position at 108/1 in the 13th over to eventually fall 14 runs short.