England captain Heather Knight accuses India of LYING – after Deepti Sharma’s controversial ‘Mankad’

Heather Knight has questioned India ‘needlessly lying’ over the controversial ending to their one-day international series against England.

India sealed a 3-0 victory with a 16-run triumph at Lord’s on Saturday, the final wicket coming via Deepti Sharma’s ‘Mankad’ on Charlie Dean, which caused an online outcry.

Bowler Sharma has since claimed she gave Dean ‘repeated warnings’ about leaving her crease before running her out at the non-striker’s end – but England captain Knight, who is currently injured, accused the visitors of lying about the incident. 

England captain Heather Knight has accused India of ‘lying’ about their controversial ‘Mankad’

Deepti Sharma ran out Charlie Dean (left) at the non-striker’s end in a contentious incident

Sharma (centre) said she had given Dean ‘repeated warnings’ – a claim that Knight questioned

She tweeted: ‘The game is over, Charlie was dismissed legitimately. India were deserved winners of the match and the series. But no warnings were given. They don’t need to be given, so it hasn’t made the dismissal any less legitimate.

‘But if they’re comfortable with the decision to affect the run out, India shouldn’t feel the need to justify it by lying about warnings,’ followed by a shrugging emoji. 

Sharma had said to reporters after the team arrived in Kolkata: ‘It was a plan, because we had warned her [for leaving the crease early] repeatedly. 

‘We did things as per the rules and guidelines. We told the umpires as well, but she was there [outside the crease]. We couldn’t do much.’

A tweet from cricket journalist Peter Della Penna claimed Dean had left her crease early 73 times from the non-striker’s end, more than 85 per cent of balls where she started at the non-striker’s end.

England had struggled in their run chase of 170 to win the third and final ODI but were rebuilding well with a 10th-wicket partnership of 35 between Dean and Freya Davies.

Dean was left in tears and had to be consoled by team-mate Freya Davies (right) on the field

Dean was eventually all smiles again and was consoled again by head coach Lisa Keightley

With the duo going well and 39 balls left, it seemed England could recover to record an impressive win over an Indian side that had already won the series. Sharma then feinted to bowl before pulling out of her delivery stride and whipping off the bails.

Although a legal dismissal and totally within the rules, some believe it is contrary to the spirit of the game. The action resulted in boos around the ground and Dean was left tearful as India celebrated, with TV presenter Piers Morgan left furious.

He said: ‘Absolutely pathetic way to ‘win’ a cricket match. The whole India team should be ashamed of themselves.’ 

Several cricket stars had their say on the matter, including England men’s bowler Stuart Broad, who tweeted: ‘I personally wouldn’t like to win a match like that.’  

His views were echoed by wicketkeeper Sam Billings, who posted: ‘There’s surely not a person who has played the game that thinks this is acceptable. Just not cricket.’ 

Billings then posted a still image of the controversial moment, with the caption: ‘Not even looking at the other end in delivery stride.’ 

England wicketkeeper Sam Billings claimed it wasn’t right and said it was ‘just not cricket’

His England team-mates Jimmy Anderson and Alex Hales replied to Billings’ social media post

England’s all-time leading wicket taker in Test cricket James Anderson replied to Billings’ first comment: ‘Spot on. No intention of bowling the ball.’ 

Alex Hales, who has recently been recalled to the England team after a three-year hiatus, however, said: ‘It shouldn’t be difficult for the non-striker to stay in their crease til the ball has left the hand.’  

 Sharma’s team-mate Harmanpreet Kaur, when interviewed after the match, said: ‘It’s part of the game. We have not done anything new.

‘It is part of the ICC rules and it just shows your awareness. I will back my players and at the end of the day, a win is a win.’ 

Images show Dean was in her crease until moments before the bails were taken off, seemingly not attempting to gain an advantage.

The laws were recently changed the state the bowler had to be in their run-up to run a non-striker out before the ball was bowled, after several controversial incidents.