Ashes 2023: Pat Cummins snubs Ben Stokes' response in Jonny Bairstow controversy

Ashes Test has landed into fresh controversy after Australia's wicketkeeper Alex Carey bizarrely dismissed England's Jonny Bairstow via run out on Sunday.

Believing that the ball was dead, Bairstow started walking towards the other end of the crease, and the wicketkeeper used the moment to shatter the stumps, much to the English cricketer's surprise.

In a setback to the English team, the third umpire announced that Bairstow was out.

After the match concluded, Australian skipper Pat Cummins was asked to respond to the incident, in reference to England skipper Ben Stokes' statement about withdrawing the appeal if the same had happened with an Australian player. 

"Ben Stokes says he would've withdrawn his appeal," the presenter asked during the post-match conversation. 

To this, Cummins responded with just "okay".

The Australian skipper's one-word response to the question drew mixed reactions on social media. A debate on the spirit of cricket was sparked among the fans and experts. 

Speaking to BBC's Test Match Special, Stokes had said: "When is it justified that the umpires have called over?

"Is the on-field umpires making movement, is that signifying over? I'm not sure." 

The cricketer had said that Bairstow was "in his crease then out of his crease", adding that he wasn't objecting to the dismissal because "it is out". 

"If the shoe was on the other foot I would have put more pressure on the umpires and asked whether they had called over and had a deep think about the whole spirit of the game and would I want to do something like that. For Australia, it was a match-winning moment. Would I want to win a game in that manner? The answer for me is no."

When prompted to comment if he would've withdrawn the appeal for a run-out in a similar scenario, Stokes said: "Yes".