‘Haar jata toh smile gayab ho jaati’ – Fans react as Pat Cummins hilariously speaks about possibility of non-striker run out in Ashes 2023

On Sunday, July 3, Australia defeated England by 43 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the Ashes. For the majority of the Test match, the World Test Champions were in command, but England skipper Ben Stokes made 155 runs off 214 balls, which featured nine sixes and nine fours. Despite being 45/4, the Three Lions found hope in Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow until the shocking dismissal.

Notably, Bairstow abandoned his position on the last delivery of the 52nd over, presuming the action was dead, and was run out after Alex Carey threw the ball onto the stumps. The dismissal created huge attractions on the internet, since England may have won the game if Bairstow had been on the crease. Nonetheless, fans, experts, and the press slammed the Australian players and captain Pat Cummins for disregarding the spirit of the game and ruining the game’s decorum.

Depends on how flat the wickets get: Pat Cummins

On being asked by a reporter whether they will see underarm bowling and Mankad from Australia in this series?’ Pat Cummins replied, “Depends on how flat the wickets get, might be an option to turn to (smiles).”  He further added, “It’s a really common thing for keepers to do if they see a batter keep leaving their crease. Cares (Carey), full credit to him, he saw the opportunity, rolled it at the stumps, Jonny left his crease. You leave the rest to the umpires.” “It was all one motion, there was no pause or sneakiness about it. It was ‘catch, throw’ straightaway.”

Cummins was labelled ‘Pathetic’ by the experts and the English media, and the Australians were accused of making the Ashes series toxic. The English press did not leave any stone uncovered in their criticism of the Australian team, even comparing it to the notorious underarm delivery against New Zealand in 1981 that prevented the Kiwis from winning the game. The spotlight is now on the third Test of the thrilling series, which begins in four days on July 6 at Headingley. It will be intriguing to see whether England can make a return on the third test.

Here’s how fans reacted