Not so long ago, the Decision Review System (DRS) became the ‘talk of the town’ after Indian skipper Virat Kohli showed concerns for ‘soft signal’ – a part of DRS decisions – saying umpires should refrain from giving soft-signal if there is any doubt.
Now again, one of the rules in DRS has come under scanner during the second ODI between India and England at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. It all happened on the last ball of the 40th over bowled by Tom Curran.
Rishabh Pant, who was at the striker’s end, went for a reverse lap to put extra pressure on the bowler. However, the length of the ball was too full, and the wicketkeeper-batsman ended up missing the ball.
The England players appealed for a leg-before and the on-field umpire Virender Sharma raised his finger. But Pant signalled to his bat straight away and took a review. The replays showed there was an inside edge, after which the ball flew past Jos Buttler to the boundary rope.
Pant’s dismissal was eventually overturned, but India were not awarded four runs. It was because of the questionable clause of the DRS which denied Pant from earning a boundary despite him being not out. The rule states that “if a batsman is given out a leg before, the ball at that moment becomes dead, and whatever happens afterwards doesn’t count at all.”
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According to Clause 3.7 of Appendix D of the ICC playing conditions: “If following a player review request, an original decision of Out is changed to Not out, then the ball is still deemed to have become dead when the original decision was made. The batting side, while benefiting from the reversal of the dismissal, shall not benefit from any runs that may subsequently have accrued from the delivery had the on-field umpire originally.”
Pant played a tremendous knock of 77 runs from just 40 deliveries, including three fours and seven huge sixes. Apart from the Delhi-lad, captain Kohli and middle-order batsman KL Rahul contributed well to take India to 336/6 in their allotted 50 overs. While Kohli smashed 66 off 79 balls, Rahul hit a sensational century. The Karanataka stalwart made 108 from 114 deliveries.
