108 for 2, Over 12.4 — Then Everything Changed
Of the 1,169 matches played across 18 IPL seasons, precisely one dismissal triggered a global rule change. On March 25, 2019, in the fourth match of IPL 2019 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, Punjab Kings captain Ravichandran Ashwin ran out Jos Buttler at the non-striker's end while the Englishman was backing up during his delivery stride. The scoreboard read 108/2 in the 13th over. Rajasthan Royals were cruising toward a target of 185. Buttler had 69 runs to his name and was making the chase look simple. Within three hours, every cricket pundit, player, and fan on the planet had chosen a side.
KXIP won by 14 runs. The match result became a footnote. The dismissal became a landmark.
The Setup: Gayle's Assault and a Target of 185
Chris Gayle's Opening Blitz
Rajasthan Royals won the toss at Sawai Mansingh and put KXIP in. The decision looked sound for all of four deliveries. Chris Gayle, then 39 years old and playing his second IPL stint at Punjab, launched an innings that would earn him Player of the Match honours — 79 off 47 balls, a characteristic Gayle storm of clean hitting through the arc and towering sixes over midwicket.
Gayle and KL Rahul put on a brisk opening stand that set the tone. Where Gayle bludgeoned, Rahul rotated — the contrast gave KXIP's innings both explosiveness and stability. The powerplay yielded 55 runs, and from there, KXIP never let the run rate dip below 9.
Sarfaraz Khan's Finishing Punch
Sarfaraz Khan, then a 21-year-old playing lower in the order, remained unbeaten on 46 to push KXIP to 184/4 from their 20 overs. It was a total that sat in an uncomfortable zone for the chasing team: not insurmountable, but demanding sustained aggression across 20 overs without the luxury of a slow start.
Rajasthan's bowling had looked toothless against Gayle's power, and the dew was beginning to settle on the outfield. Everything pointed to a straightforward chase on a flat Jaipur deck.
The Chase: Buttler's Masterclass Cut Short
Buttler in Full Flow
Jos Buttler walked in with the reputation of being one of IPL's most destructive top-order batters. His form for Rajasthan Royals across 2018 had been extraordinary — five consecutive fifties from the top of the order. In 2019, he was expected to carry the batting.
He delivered. Through the first 12 overs, Buttler batted with the kind of controlled fury that defines elite T20 batting: conventional strokes played with unconventional power, innovative ramps over the keeper, and drives through the covers that reached the boundary before mid-off could turn. At 69 off 43 balls, he had the chase firmly in Rajasthan's hands. The required rate was a comfortable 7.6, and Buttler showed no signs of slowing.
12.4 — The Moment
Ashwin was bowling the 13th over. As he reached the crease in his delivery stride, he noticed Buttler leaving the crease early at the non-striker's end — backing up before the ball was released, a common practice designed to gain a yard's head start for a quick single. Ashwin paused, removed the bails, and appealed.
The umpire referred it to the third umpire. The replays were clear: Buttler had left the crease before Ashwin released the ball. Under Law 41.16 of the MCC Laws of Cricket — at that time filed under "Unfair Play" — the bowler was within his rights to run out the non-striker if the batter left the crease before delivery. The third umpire gave it out.
The Jaipur crowd erupted in confusion. Buttler stood at the crease, stunned, before walking off with visible anger. The television cameras caught Ashwin's expression: calm, unapologetic, certain.
The Collapse: From 108/2 to 170/9
What happened next was as dramatic as the dismissal itself. Buttler's departure didn't just remove Rajasthan's best batter — it shattered the dressing room's composure. The psychological blow was visible in every subsequent batsman's approach.
| Phase | Overs | Score | Wickets | Run Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| With Buttler | 1–12.4 | 108 | 2 | 8.72 |
| After Buttler | 12.5–20 | 62 | 7 | 8.27 |
The numbers tell one story. The body language told another. Where Buttler had been calculating, the remaining batters were anxious. Where the chase had been measured, it became frantic. Seven wickets fell for 62 runs in 44 balls. Rajasthan finished at 170/9 — 14 runs short.
Ashwin himself finished with respectable figures and, more importantly, had bent the game's trajectory with a single act that required zero athletic effort. It was captaincy at its most clinical — and most controversial.
The Firestorm: Spirit vs Law
The "Spirit of Cricket" Camp
Within minutes of the dismissal, the cricket world divided along a fault line that had existed since 1948 but had never been tested at this scale.
Shane Warne, Rajasthan Royals' brand ambassador, was apoplectic. On Twitter, he called Ashwin's act "disgraceful" and "totally out of order." Former England captains Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain expressed discomfort. The argument: cricket is built on mutual trust between batsman and bowler. Backing up is a routine, harmless act. Exploiting it violates the unwritten social contract of the game.
The MCC itself weighed in within 48 hours, releasing a statement that while the dismissal was legal, it was "not within the spirit of cricket." This extraordinary intervention — the governing body of cricket's laws effectively criticising a player for following those laws — captured the absurdity of the situation.
The "Follow the Laws" Camp
Ashwin was unapologetic. In the post-match press conference, he stated plainly: "There is nothing to say. I didn't even load, it was very instinctive." He pointed out that he had warned Buttler earlier in the match about leaving his crease early. When Buttler continued to do so, Ashwin executed the dismissal.
Virat Kohli publicly backed Ashwin. Sachin Tendulkar's position was nuanced but leaned toward the law. The Indian cricket establishment largely supported its senior spinner. The argument was straightforward: the batter gains an unfair advantage by leaving early. If you don't want to get run out, stay in your crease. The bowler shouldn't need to warn you about following the rules.
Former Indian all-rounder and commentator Aakash Chopra put it most succinctly: "The batsman is cheating by leaving early. The bowler catches the cheater. And we blame the bowler?"
The Global Debate — By the Numbers
| Position | Notable Advocates | Core Argument |
|---|---|---|
| Against Mankad | Shane Warne, Michael Vaughan, Ben Stokes | Violates spirit of cricket |
| For Mankad | R Ashwin, Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar | Batter gains unfair advantage |
| Neutral | MCC (initially), ICC | Legal but uncomfortable |
What made the 2019 incident different from previous Mankad attempts — Kapil Dev doing it in 1992, or Murali's attempt in 2014 — was the platform. This was the IPL, the world's most-watched cricket league. It was Match 4 of the season. Every camera, every hot take, every social media account was trained on it.
The Aftermath: Law 41.16 Becomes Law 38
The Ashwin-Buttler incident didn't just dominate the news cycle for a week. It set in motion a legislative process that took three years to complete.
2019–2021: The Slow Burn
In the seasons following, several more Mankad incidents occurred in domestic and international cricket, each reigniting the debate. But the weight of cricketing opinion was shifting. Younger players, data analysts, and coaches increasingly questioned why batters were allowed to cheat the running distance with impunity.
The MCC convened a special committee to review the law's classification.
October 2022: The Rule Change
On 1 October 2022, the MCC's updated Code of Laws came into force. The single most significant change: the run-out of the non-striker was moved from Law 41 (Unfair Play) to Law 38 (Run Out).
The wording of the law itself didn't change. The act was identical. But the reclassification was seismic. By moving it from "Unfair Play" to "Run Out," the MCC formally declared that this dismissal was a legitimate mode of getting out — no different from a stumping or a direct hit. The stigma was officially removed.
Ashwin had been vindicated by the laws he had always cited.
The Ripple Effects
| Year | Development |
|---|---|
| 2019 | Ashwin Mankads Buttler — first ever in IPL history |
| 2019 | MCC says legal but "not in the spirit" |
| 2020 | Multiple Mankad attempts in domestic cricket |
| 2022 | MCC moves dismissal from Law 41 to Law 38 |
| 2023 | ICC formally adopts new classification |
| 2024 | Multiple Mankad dismissals in T20 leagues — minimal controversy |
| 2025–26 | Accepted as routine — no debate, no headlines |
The progression from taboo to routine took just six years. And it started at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on a Monday night in March.
The Match in Context: What It Meant for Both Franchises
For Kings XI Punjab
KXIP had won just six of 14 matches the previous season. The 2019 campaign under Ashwin's captaincy was meant to signal a new era of aggressive, analytically driven cricket. The Mankad was, in a sense, the perfect encapsulation of Ashwin's philosophy: exploit every edge the rules offer, refuse to be bound by unwritten codes, and make decisions that are uncomfortable but correct.
KXIP would finish sixth that season with six wins and eight losses. Ashwin's captaincy tenure lasted just two IPL seasons before he moved to Delhi Capitals. But the Mankad would outlast everything else from that period.
For Rajasthan Royals
The loss was a body blow early in the season. More than the two points, it was the psychological damage — the sense that the game had been taken away by something outside normal cricket. Buttler's form wobbled for several matches after the incident. Rajasthan finished seventh, winning just five of 14 matches.
Sanju Samson, then a young middle-order batter for the Royals, was in the dressing room that night. He would later become RR captain, lead them to the 2022 final, and eventually move to Chennai Super Kings for IPL 2026. Buttler himself would later join Gujarat Titans, carrying his IPL legacy to a new franchise.
Why This Match Still Matters
The 2019 KXIP vs RR game at Jaipur isn't remembered for Chris Gayle's 79 off 47, though it deserved to be. It isn't remembered for Sarfaraz Khan's composed 46 not out, or for the RR collapse from 108/2 to 170/9. It is remembered for 1.2 seconds of footage: Ashwin pausing, Buttler straying, the bails coming off.
Single moments rarely change sports. This one did. It forced cricket's oldest institution to reclassify a dismissal. It gave every bowler in the world explicit permission to enforce a rule that had been considered unsporting for 70 years. It drew a line between what cricket's culture said and what cricket's laws allowed — and the laws won.
CricMind's Oracle engine, when computing match predictions for any T20 fixture, factors in a variable called "captaincy aggression" — a metric that measures how willing a captain is to make high-risk, high-reward tactical decisions. The concept owes something to nights like March 25, 2019. Cricket intelligence isn't just about run rates and strike rotations. It's about the willingness to act on an edge that others wouldn't touch.
Three Takeaways
- The laws ultimately caught up with the culture. For 70 years, cricket's social code said the Mankad was wrong. In 2022, the MCC formally disaggregated the law from the sentiment. Ashwin was right before the rules said he was right.
- One dismissal changed the economics of backing up. Before 2019, non-strikers routinely left their crease 2-3 feet early with zero consequences. Post-2019, batters worldwide began staying in their ground. The expected stolen distance dropped to near zero across T20 leagues.
- The IPL is cricket's legislative engine. The IPL doesn't just reflect cricket — it drives its evolution. The Mankad debate had simmered since 1948, but it took one incident in the world's biggest T20 league to force institutional action.
FAQ
What is a Mankad in cricket?
A Mankad refers to the dismissal of a non-striker batter who leaves the crease before the bowler delivers the ball. The bowler removes the bails instead of completing the delivery. The term comes from Indian cricketer Vinoo Mankad, who dismissed Australia's Bill Brown this way during India's tour of Australia in 1947-48.
Was Ashwin's Mankad of Buttler in IPL 2019 legal?
Yes. Under Law 41.16 (as it was then classified), the bowler was entitled to run out the non-striker if the batter left the crease before delivery. The third umpire confirmed the dismissal was legal. The MCC stated it was legal but "not within the spirit of cricket" — a position they later effectively reversed in 2022.
How did the MCC rule change in 2022 relate to the Mankad?
In October 2022, the MCC moved the non-striker run-out from Law 41 (Unfair Play) to Law 38 (Run Out). This reclassification formally recognised the dismissal as a standard mode of getting out, removing the stigma of it being classified under "unfair play." The Ashwin-Buttler incident was widely cited as the catalyst for this legislative review.
What was the final score of the KXIP vs RR match in 2019?
Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab) scored 184/4 in 20 overs, powered by Chris Gayle's 79 off 47 balls and Sarfaraz Khan's unbeaten 46. Rajasthan Royals were bowled out for 170/9, losing by 14 runs after collapsing from 108/2 following Jos Buttler's Mankad dismissal at 69.
Was Jos Buttler the first player to be Mankaded in IPL history?
Yes. Buttler's dismissal on March 25, 2019 was the first-ever Mankad in the history of the Indian Premier League. While the dismissal had occurred in international cricket — most famously by Kapil Dev against Peter Kirsten in 1992 — it had never been attempted or executed in the IPL before that night in Jaipur.
Is the Mankad still controversial in cricket today?
No. By 2025-26, the dismissal is accepted as routine across all formats and T20 leagues. The 2022 MCC reclassification, combined with multiple subsequent incidents being treated as normal run-outs, has effectively normalised the practice. Batters now routinely stay in their crease until the ball is released, and the few who don't are run out without controversy.
Where are Ashwin, Buttler, and Gayle now?
Ravichandran Ashwin retired from IPL cricket after the 2024 season. Jos Buttler plays for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2026. Chris Gayle retired from professional cricket in 2023 after a legendary career spanning IPL, CPL, BBL, and international duty for the West Indies.