Trolls target Ravichandran Ashwin's wife and children after Mankading incident

Mankading is when a batsman leaves the crease before a delivery and the bowler runs him out before completing his complete bowling action.

Even as opinions are divided on whether Ravichandran Ashwin was fair in running out Jos Buttler just before a delivery during Monday's T20 match, trolls online targeted the Indian spinner's wife and children with shameful ferocity.

The controversial incident took place during a match between Punjab and Rajasthan when Ashwin took the bails off the stump after noticing Buttler had taken a few steps away from the crease before the ball was bowled. Termed as Mankading in cricketing parlance, the incident sparked a furious debate on the field but the third umpire eventually declared the England batsman out. While Buttler was furious, Ashwin looked as if he was within his right.

Even as the cricketing community debated if Ashwin could have warned Buttler instead of actually knocking the bails off, trolls began targeting the Twitter account of his wife. Some even made nasty comments to his children in which they labelled the spinner as a cheater. Still others were too distasteful to deserve a mention.

Prithi, Ashwin's wife, fired back by saying that it would be more apt for the trolls to spam the spinner's Twitter profile than hers. "There are rules. And cameras. Now stop spamming my mentions and do it on Ashwin’s timeline," she wrote.

Prithi also made a case for Instagram being better than Twitter when it comes to trolling. "This is why Instagram is so much nicer than Twitter. Folks only ask about important things like my non-existent skin care routine or my lipstick shade or what my kids had for dinner."

There are rules. And cameras. Now stop spamming my mentions and do it on Ashwin’s timeline. Also, Awwwwww Ankit . ??

— Prithi Ashwin (@prithinarayanan) March 25, 2019

Said it too soon. Makkus are leaving messages to my babies on my pictures. Excellent. How so much intelligence and all?

— Prithi Ashwin (@prithinarayanan) March 25, 2019

While the jury is still out on whether Ashwin should have dismissed Buttler in the way that he did, targeting families of cricketers for on-field incidents is hardly justified.