Veteran India discard and Railways captain Murali Kartik today found himself at the centre of a controversy when he 'Mankaded' Bengal batsman Sandipan Das leading to an ugly altercation with opposition coach Ashok Malhotra during a Ranji Trophy game here today.
This is not the first time that Kartik has 'Mankaded' a player in a first-class game. He did the same playing for Surrey against Somerset last year, where he ran Alex Barrow out in the same fashion, which is widely believed to be a reason for the loss of his county contract.
The incident happened in the 80th over of the Bengal innings with their score at 120 for three. Sandipan, batting on 19, just backed up at non-striker's end as Kartik whipped off the bails and appealed for run-out which is also known as 'Mankading'. Umpire Milind Pathak referred to the TV umpire and Sandipan was given out.
A disgusted Bengal bench stood up at what happened with their skipper Malhotra and senior pacer Ashoke Dinda being furious as they found it against the 'Spirit of the Game'.
As per rules, Kartik was well within his rights as he had warned Sandipan in the previous over for backing up too far.
At lunch when the players were coming out, the Bengal players started clapping with one of the senior guys even calling Kartik a 'cheat'. The sarcasm of the clap was not lost on Kartik, who said something to Malhotra, leading to things blowing up badly.
Malhotra just rushed from his place and was seen shouting at Kartik.
"You are an India player and this is how you play cricket. This is an example you set for juniors," a fuming Malhotra was seen shouting at Kartik as the left-arm spinner snapped back and told him to shut up as he entered the dressing room.
