"Stay inside the crease and live in peace" - Ashwin hopes teams will choose run-out over "moral high ground" at 2023 World Cup

Ravichandran Ashwin called for international teams to be ready for non-striker run-outs in the 2023 World Cup instead of taking a "moral high ground" on Sunday. The off-spinner, who has played a key role in the normalization of the legal but controversial run-out, was replying to a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The writer of the post gave a "conclusion" that the run-out is only celebrated by countries who haven't faced it against them. He said the tables will turn if it happens at the World Cup or to someone of Virat Kohli's stature.

Ashwin called it a "fair assessment" of the situation and added:

"I am sure hell will break loose and there will be a character assassination campaign by some experts who still don’t agree with it and of course fans that are on the receiving end. There is only one solution, whoever be the batter and whatever be the magnitude of the situation, the batter needs to watch the bowler load the ball up and rotate his shoulder before taking off and if he doesn’t do that and gets out, we should applaud the bowler and tell the batsmen that he can do better."

He continued:

"At the moment not all teams are doing it but come the World Cup, I really hope everyone is ready for it cos taking a moral high stand and saying we won’t do it, should open a strategic window for the other teams and genuinely teams should take every single advantage coming their way cos winning a World Cup is a lifetime achievement."

The writer of the post also vaguely mentioned how the run-out hasn't been affected in the Ashes or World Cup finals because the teams have reached those stages after a "long grind" and value "respect" more than winning.

"Finally, is winning everything?" Ashwin said. "Its everything for some and not for many others, we need to accept both, cos we are all different. Stay inside the crease and live in peace ✌️"

The debate has raged once again since Afghanistan's Fazalhaq Farooqi ran Pakistan's Shadab Khan out at the non-striker's end in a recent nail-biting ODI. Ashwin often trends on social media after such dismissals anywhere in the world.

"Lame" - Ravichandran Ashwin on action and other arguments against runout

Since Shadab's run-out, journalists and pundits in Pakistani media have given various arguments against the run-out. Some said Farooqi hadn't completed his action (if he had, it wouldn't have counted legally) and that the dismissal is affected only in the final overs of matches.

“He dint complete his action at all and he should look for it in the 5th 6th over arguments are lame”cos (because) once the bowler loads up and gets ready to deliver, he can’t run the batter out cos it’s incorrect according to the law," Ashwin said.

The second argument was dealt with by South African legend AB de Villiers who simply said it's because batters try to steal runs more in the death overs.