London: Hours after India's off-spin all-rounder Deepti Sharma said prior warnings were given to Charlie Dean before she was finally run out for backing up too far at the non-striker's end in a dramatic finish to the third One-Day International (ODI) at Lord's, regular England skipper captain Heather Knight has responded to Deepti's comments, stating "no warnings were given" and "India shouldn't feel the need to justify it by lying about warnings."
In Saturday's match, which was also legendary pacer Jhulan Goswami's final international game, England were looking to get an unlikely win, thanks to Charlie's batting efforts and her stand of 35 with Freya Davies for the final wicket.
Off the fourth ball of the 44th over, Deepti saw Charlie venturing out of the crease at the non-striker's end while in her delivery stride and knocked the bails off, giving India a 16-run win and 3-0 series sweep.
Charlie was left in tears after the dismissal ended her gritty knock of 47 and was comforted by Freya, which left the cricketing world divided over the legal mode of the dismissal, with majority of England cricketers calling it against the spirit of the game.
After touching down at Kolkata airport, Deepti said,"It was a plan , because we had warned her repeatedly. Whatever we did was as per the rules and guidelines. We had told the umpires as well. But still she (Charlie Dean) was there (outside the crease). We couldn't do much."
Through two tweets on Twitter, Heather contested Deepti's claims by writing, "The game is over. Charlie was dismissed legitimately, India were deserved winners of the match and the series. But no warnings were given. They don't need to be given, so it hasn't made the dismissal any less legitimate. But if they're comfortable with the decision to affect the run out, India shouldn't feel the need to justify by lying about warnings."