Ben Foakes inflicted a controversial stumping during England vs Ireland game | Photo Credit: Twitter

Ben Foakes was caught up in a controversy on Friday during the one-off ODI game between Ireland and England in Dublin. He was terrific with the bat and played a match-winning knock of unbeaten 61 runs to guide his side to a comfortable 4-wicket win. However, the wicket-keeper stirred controversy while keeping during the Ireland innings with a clever stumping, which as per fans was 'not in the spirit of the game.'

The incident happened in the 25th over of the Ireland innings when batsman Andy Balbirnie was sent back by Foakes after some clever work from behind the stumps. Balbirine missed a sweep shot off the bowling of Joe Denly and the ball went straight into the hands of Foakes, who held on to it, took his gloves near the stumps and waited for the batsman to lose balance and raise his foot in the air. Despite being comfortably inside the crease, Balbrine was stumped after he raised his foot a bit to create some balance and was given out by the third umpire.

Twitter was quick to compare the controversial dismissal to Ravichandran Ashwin 'Mankading' Jos Buttler in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019. The Kings XI Punjab skipper had run out Buttler on the non-striker's end after the English batsman stepped over the crease before Ashwin could bowl his delivery. The controversial dismissal had sparked huge debate in the cricket world with mixed responses.

Here's how Twitter reacted to the controversial stumping:

Foakes showing with the bat and gloves what a smart cricketer he is pic.twitter.com/Cd03GalOVD — Alex Chapman (@AlexChapmanNZ) May 3, 2019

Heres stumping pics Poms saying its smart glove work not against spirit of the game this time .why this double standards for ur own country players. I hope @jimmy9 will shred ben foakes pic to show his displeasure and @Colly622 will tweet about mother cricket and karma#ENGvIRE pic.twitter.com/D3j4tGstW7 — Karan.Gill (@KaranGill79) May 4, 2019

Ben Foakes stumping was a disgrace - much bigger than Ashwin's actions. Here there was a willing actor waiting for batsman to lift his leg much after the actual transaction of the ball got over. Reminds me of Alec stewart's antics. Surprised with the pindrop silence from pundits — Sheel Majumdar (@SheelMajumdar) May 3, 2019

Ben Foakes stumping was no worse than a Mankad. — Tom-oh-no (@thom_dorke) May 3, 2019

I've been a fan of Ben Foakes even before he made his test debut. Happy to see him get his chance in the ODIs now. But that stumping is not in the spirit of the game.#IREvENG #SpiritOfCricket @ICC — PK (@iPkoppula) May 3, 2019

“I can't believe what I'm seeing!! Terrible example to set for young kids coming through. In time, I think Foakes will regret that.” #spotthedifference pic.twitter.com/zHHJCPqUpq — Isabelle Westbury (@izzywestbury) May 3, 2019

If the @ICC wishes to maintain its "Spirit of Cricket" as part of the modern game, then the Ben Foakes 'stumping' in Malahide today should not be endorsed as "within the Spirit of the Game." #IREvENG @ECB_cricket — Alan Wilkins (@alanwilkins22) May 3, 2019

Balbirnie scored 29 off 44 balls as Ireland were bundled out on 198/10 in 43.1 overs. In reply, England got off to a shaky start losing their openers early. James Vince (18) and Dawid Malan (24) were sent back cheaply. The likes of Joe Root (7), Eoin Morgan (0) and Joe Denly (8) also failed to make any substantial contribution to the chase as Ireland looked favourites at one point in the game.

However, Foakes pulled things back for England in with a sublime knock of 61 runs. He combined with David Willey (20) and Tom Curran (47) to add two crucial partnerships of 45 and 98 runs respectively to win the game for England with eight overs to spare.