England awarded five penalty runs after Ashwin runs into protected area of pitch

England were awarded five penalty runs on day two of their third Test on Friday after India were penalised for Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja running into a protected area of the pitch while batting.

On day one, India received a final warning when Jadeja was caught running into the danger zone, but were issued the penalty runs by umpire Joel Wilson on Friday when Rehan Ahmed bowled the 102nd over of the hosts’ first innings.

Ashwin ran down the middle of the pitch before turning around when a run was not available.

Law 41.14 states the protected area as “that area of the pitch contained within a rectangle bounded at each end by imaginary lines parallel to the popping creases and 5 ft/1.52 m in front of each, and on the sides by imaginary lines, one each side of the imaginary line joining the centres of the two middle stumps, each parallel to it and 1 ft/30.48 cm from it”.

Ashwin appeared to remonstrate with the umpire about the decision before accepting the penalty.

Former England captain Alastair Cook believes the encroachment was a “tactical ploy” by Ashwin.

“I’ve never seen an actual warning of five runs to start with,” he told TNT Sports. “I’ve never seen it actually played out like that.

“Bits I like about it was Ollie Pope snitching in right away. I like how he has gone straight to the umpire and said Jadeja stamped his feet.

“Is it deliberate [from Ashwin]? Yes it is, it’s a tactical ploy that you can disturb the middle of the wicket because Ashwin wants as much help when he can bowl.

“It normally happens in the third innings when you are 150-200 runs ahead and you think ‘just make sure you get up and down the wicket’.

“You’d make sure there are footmarks which are naturally there, but if you’re walking up and down there a little bit more you’re disturbing.”

Former England fast bowler Steven Finn believes running into the danger zone was an act of “gamesmanship” from India.

He said: “Gamesmanship used to be a really huge part of professional sport. Vince Lombardi the American football coach coined the phrase didn’t he? Gamesmanship when you are a bowler… my follow through was quite tight to that danger area, but never actually got warned for going on.

“But what I would do, rather than turn left and walk off the cut strip, I’d turn right and walk back up through my foot mark so technically I’m not in the danger area, I’m not doing anything wrong but I’m creating two lots of foot traffic through that rough patch. Later on in the game, Graeme Swann would thank me very much for creating that extra foot traffic for him to land the ball in.

“You don’t intentionally run on the middle of the wicket, but you get as close to that area as you possibly can to help your bowlers out. It’s about taking 20 wickets, you want every small advantage you can get.”

The five-Test series is currently level at 1-1. England won the first match in Hyderabad before India levelled in Visakhapatnam.

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