Spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin was heavily criticised for mankeding Jos Buttler during an Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in 2019. Even though Ashwin was within his rights to dismiss the Englishman, the decision did not go well with several former cricketers and a section of the followers of the game as they considered it to be unsportsmanlike behaviour. However, Ashwin was not the first Indian cricketer to do so.

Prior to Ashwin – Buttler saga, two other Indian bowlers had also taken the same root in international cricket, with one of them being the 1983 World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Dev.

The incident took place during India’s first tour of South Africa in 1992, also commonly known as the “Friendship Series”. The 1992-93 series between India and South Africa also marked the rainbow nation’s re-entry in international cricket post the Apartheid era.