'They always play the victim card': Ravi Ashwin rips apart critics over Deepti's run-out

India's leading off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has once again come out in support of Deepti Sharma over her controversial tactic in the third ODI between India Women and England Women. Deepti dismissed England batter, Charlie Dean, at the non-striker's end while trying to win a game for her country. After the incident, Deepti received a lot of criticism from former cricketers, who dubbed her action against the spirit of the game.

Ashwin accuses critics of playing the victim card

Ashwin was among the few active players who came in support of Deepti at the time. Ashwin has once again shown his support for Deepti by slamming the critics and accusing them of playing the victim card. Ashwin has said that only a certain section of people seem to have trouble with Deepti's tactic. Notably, he himself has used the mode of dismissal a couple of times in his professional career. 

"Seeing people always as if they have committed a crime. In the beginning, the whole world saw it that way. But now, most of them have started realizing that the bowlers didn't commit any crime there. Many of them have started asking why are you asking questions to the innocent instead of asking the person who should be guilty," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

"Only a certain section of people seem to have a problem with this. In my opinion, they always play the victim card. But whenever there's something new happening, there will be some resistance by a few people and that's understandable," he added.

Ashwin also lauded India Women's team captain Harmanpreet Kaur for backing Deepti after the incident. Ashwin said a captain backing the player at that moment is very important. After the incident, Harmanpreet said that she supports what Deepti did because the non-striker shouldn't have left the crease early. "It is part of the game and it is an ICC rule and I think we just need to back our player. I don't think she has done something wrong and we just need to back her.," Harmanpreet said at the post-match press conference.

"Nobody goes to Charlie Dean and asks her, 'Why did you leave the crease?' They never ask the non-striker why they leave the crease early. So, people who have power only control the narratives. There's no question about that. So, my full support and kudos to Harmanpreet Kaur more than Deepti Sharma because a captain backing the player at that moment is very, very important. She backed her player and asked back, 'What's wrong with that, the non-striker shouldn't have left the crease, right?," Ashwin said.

As far as the controversial incident is concerned, Charlie was batting at 47 when Deepti dismissed her to win the game for India. Charlie was seen holding back her tears after being given out by the on-field umpire, who had gone upstairs to review the run-out before ruling in favour of Deepti. India needed only one wicket to end the game and Charlie's dismissal did the job for the Women in Blue.  

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