'Cowardly' Mankad drama hits Asia Cup

The Mankad dismissal has been labelled a "cowardly option" after it was used to help Oman to victory in their Asian Cup qualifying match against Hong Kong in Bangladesh overnight.

Oman bowler Aamir Kaleem "Mankad-ed" Hong Kong batsman Mark Chapman in the ninth over, pulling out of his delivery stride to underarm the ball onto the stumps with the non-striker well out of his ground.

With Hong Kong flying at 2-77 in the ninth over, chasing Oman's 5-180, Chapman was run out by the left-arm spinner for eight from seven balls.

A second wicket followed two balls later and Hong Kong's chase stalled, eventually falling five runs short.

Hong Kong coach Simon Cook was left unimpressed, claiming it was against the "spirit of cricket" and "cowardly".

"Ultimately I think it's a cowardly way out really," Cook said.

"If you're battling man against man out in the middle and you choose to go down that route to get a wicket and win the game, it's not in the spirit of cricket and a pretty cowardly option.

"It's disappointing for the game. For me, yes it's in the laws, you can do it legally but I think it goes against the spirit of the game when you're not at least warning someone.

"I can see exactly why the MCC brought the Laws in but I think within the spirit of the game you should at least give the batsman a fair warning you might do that."

Hong Kong fell short despite the best efforts of batsman Babar Hayat, who smashed 122 from 60 balls, including seven sixes.

Hong Kong started the final over needing 15 runs to win. That was reduced to 11 from the final three balls when Hayat was caught on the rope at long-off.

Cook called Hayat's innings one of the best ever seen from a Hong Kong batsman.

"Outstanding innings, you know he’s starting to be more and more consistent over the last few months, or last few series," Cook said.

"And he’s again shown why he is the best batter in Hong Kong, where he controlled the innings perfectly.

"They were 20 runs over par and that kind of proved it towards the end there, where even a fantastic  innings by Baba saw him on the losing side."

The previous incident of Mankading at international level came in 2014 when England's Jos Buttler was dismissed by Sri Lanka's Sachithra Senanayake.

ICC T20 playing conditions

Law 42.15 – Bowler attempting to run out non-striker before delivery

The bowler is permitted, before releasing the ball and provided he has not completed his usual delivery swing, to deliberately attempt to run out the non-striker. Whether the attempt is successful or not, the ball shall not count as one of the over. If the bowler fails in an attempt to run out the nonstriker, the umpire shall call and signal Dead ball as soon possible.