India captain defends controversial run-out to seal England sweep
Cricket
India captain defends controversial run-out to seal England sweep
LONDON (AFP) - India captain Harmanpreet Kaur insisted her side had committed no "crime" after sealing victory over England at Lord s on Saturday with a run-out at the non-striker s end.
England were eyeing a remarkable win in the third women s one-day international when India bowler Deepti Sharma ran out non-striker Charlie Dean, who was well out of her ground.
Dean s 47, batting at number nine, had given England, who were 53-6, hope of chasing down a target of 170. Instead they were bowled out for 153 as India won by 16 runs to complete a 3-0 series sweep.
An emotional Dean broke down in tears when her dismissal was confirmed before sportingly shaking hands with her opponents.
Despite being allowed under cricket s rules, running out a non-striker backing up has long been regarded as unsporting by many within the game.
But it was only this week the International Cricket Council reiterated the dismissal, known as a "Mankad" after India s Vinoo Mankad, who ran out Australia batsman Bill Brown backing up in a 1948 Test in Sydney, was completely legitimate.
This was both teams first match at Lord s since England beat India in the 2017 Women s World Cup final.
And while some boos were heard following Dean s dismissal, Kaur was adamant Sharma had done nothing to overshadow either the victory or India pace great Jhulan Goswami s last match before international retirement.
"Today whatever we have done I don t think it was any crime, it is part of the game and it is an ICC rule and I think we just need to back our player," Kaur said.
"I don t think (Sharma) has done something wrong and we just need to back her."
England seamer Kate Cross said she would never take a wicket in this way but added: "I think it s a dismissal that s always going to divide opinion. That s all that s ever going to get said about it: some people are going to like it, some people aren t.
"Deepti chose to dismiss Charlie Dean that way. I m more disappointed for Charlie Dean that she couldn t get a fifty at Lord s today because she looked set to do that.
"If we re looking at the real positives, then maybe that s the only way they could have got Deano out today."
