'Even now in Ranji Trophy, the batsman always...': Ashwin reminds Bairstow of two 'basic' rules as England cry foul

India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who knows a thing or two about inflicting controversial dismissals, has chipped in on the Jonny Bairstow debate, saying Alex Carey was at no fault and that England paid the price for not following 'basic' rules. Bairstow was controversially out stumped on Day 5 of the 2nd Ashes Test at Lord's, which Australia won by 43 runs to take a 2-0 lead, the dismissal leading to debates all around the cricketing world with several current and former greats giving their verdicts. The legendary Geoffrey Boycott reckons Australia should apologise, while Ben Stokes said he would never settle for a win 'in that manner'. Things have even turned tense between the two head coaches after Brendon McCullum said that he and his team 'wouldn't be having a beer anytime soon' with their Australian counterparts.

One of the first people to have his say on the matter, Ashwin tweeted that Carey noticed a pattern in Bairstow stepping out before making the move – similar to how the India spinner has in the past, run batters out at the non-striker end for backing too far. On Tuesday though, Ashwin, in a fresh take, has reminded Bairstow and England of two extremely basic rules that they failed to follow, first one being the communication a batter needs to have with the keeper before leaving the crease.

"A debate regarding that Bairstow dismissal is that since it was the last ball of the over, it seems he left that delivery and came to the non-striker end to have a chat. Take a look at the replay again. Alex Carey didn't wait for a second to hit the stumps. He knew Bairstow will leave the crease and that's why he threw at the stumps immediately. Bairstow didn't take a single look behind and started leaving his crease," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

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"It's the most basic stuff, guys. Follow the ball and then leave the crease. Even now in Ranji Trophy and international cricket, the batsman will always look at the keeper and slip fielder, ask their permission and only then leave the crease. That's because the keeper and the slip-cordon can still do it. That is absolutely allowed within the rules of the game. Since the game was in the balance, I can understand the crowd going on with it. Other than that, I don't think there is anything wrong with what Carey did. He correctly utilised seeing the pattern of what Bairstow usually does."

The incident took place when England were five down for 193 and needed another 178 runs to win. With the game wide open, Bairstow ducked a bouncer from Cameron Green and took off without realising that the ball was yet to be called dead. Seizing the opportunity, Carey threw the ball and hit bull's eye. While Bairstow was rightly given out – it was within the laws of the game – Australia found themselves in the firing line for hampering the 'spirit of cricket'. They refused to budge from their stance, not withdrawing the appeal, which further infuriated the crowd.

Ashwin brought to the notice another law which Bairstow, Ben Stokes and the rest of the team failed to follow, and that is to wait for the umpire to officially signal the end of the over declaring the ball dead. "The next thing is about the last ball of the over and that's why he started leaving the crease. After the end of the over, until the umpire calls 'OVER!', there over is not completed," he added.

"Only once he says so and the ball rests and there is no further action possible from the ball, it will be considered a dead ball. Until then, the only responsibility of the batter is to protect his crease. Here, the umpire didn't say 'Over', so Carey hit the stumps and the umpire ruled him out."