Ben Stokes replies to Harsha Bhogle’s ‘Cultural Problem’ comments on Twitter

Since Deepti Sharma ran out Charlie Dean to win the game for India, the cricket fraternity has been divided on an extreme level. On one hand, the English cricket fraternity has been bashing Sharma right, left, and center. On the other hand, current and former cricketers from other countries have supported the India all-rounder. Renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle recently joined the bandwagon of cricketers supporting the 25-year-old.

In a strong-worded Tweet thread, Bhogle slammed the England media for targeting Deepti for playing within the rules of the game. The renowned commentator also spoke about how colonial domination is still existing and how it controls the narrative.

“I find it very disturbing that a very large section of the media in England is asking questions of a girl who played by the laws of the game & none at all of another who was gaining an illegal advantage and was a habitual offender,” he wrote.

“That includes reasonable people & I think it is a cultural thing. The English thought it was wrong to do so & because they ruled over a large part of the cricket world, they told everyone it was wrong. The colonial domination was so powerful that few questioned it. As a result, the mindset still is that what England considers wrong should be considered wrong by the rest of the cricket world, much like the “line” the Aussies say you must not cross having decided what the line should be which is fine in their culture but may not be for others,” he wrote in his strongly worded thread which continues after this.

it is a cultural thing. The English thought it was wrong to do so & because they ruled over a large part of the cricket world, they told everyone it was wrong. The colonial domination was so powerful that few questioned it. As a result,the mindset still is that what England (2/n)

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) September 30, 2022

Ben Stokes comes up with a strong reply

In reply, England Test skipper Ben Stokes questioned the choice of words from Bhogle. The former replied by saying “Harsha … bringing culture into peoples opinion over a Mankad?”. It will be interesting to see how this conversation goes. However, one thing is certain that the conversation on ‘Mankading’ is here to stay for a while.

Harsha … bringing culture into peoples opinion over a Mankad? https://t.co/QNyY8K59kP

— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) October 1, 2022