While Quinton de Kock and the rest of the South African team had a merry time once the Pakistani batsman Fakhar Zaman was out, netizens took to Twitter, blaming de Kock, the former Proteas skipper, for his ‘illegal’ run out.
The incident took place in the 49th over when Pakistan needed 31 runs off six balls. Zaman, the sole warrior, was batting on 192 off 154 balls when he drove the ball to deep long-off and called his partner Haris Rauf for a run.
The pair, after taking a single, decided to take another run after a slight stutter. While Zaman was considering whether Rauf had completed the second run, De Kock added to Pakistan’s woes by signalling the left-handed opener as if the ball was about to reach the non-striker’s end.
Zaman slowed down callously and spun around to check if Rauf had made it when Aiden Markram threw the ball at the striker’s end, and in no time, the former had to walk back to the pavilion.
This sparked a debate among the netizens over the illegalities of the dismissal since Law 41.5.1 states, “It is unfair for any fielder wilfully to attempt, by word or action, to distract, deceive or obstruct either batsman after the striker has received the ball.”
The umpires called it ‘out’ but fans still had arguments in favour of Zaman.
To stop the row, Shabrez Tamsi, another South African spinner, backed De Kock and said that Zaman had misinterpreted his teammate since he was asking his fielders to back up at the non-striker’s end.
Just 2 clarify
QDK was NOT speaking 2 or pointing at the batsman,he was asking a fielder to back up at the non strikers end
Not Quinnys fault the batman turned around 2 see instead of completing the run safely which he should have done
Stop the hate n Leave QDK alone#Peace✌
— Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90) April 5, 2021
Shamsi further added that it was funny since the batsman had stopped running and was lazy in completing the run.
So it's not funny that the batsman stopped running instead of completing the run?
Lets not take the attention away from a great innings that he played and give him credit for that
The batman's job in that instance was to complete the run that all…
As simple as that 🙂
— Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90) April 5, 2021
This didn’t go down well with many including Waqar Younis who was swift to point out that De Kock had a wry smile on his face after Zaman was run out.
Record breaking inning. Simply Outstanding @FakharZamanLive 🇵🇰. What about this cheeky giggle from Quinton tells you 🤔? #SAvPAK pic.twitter.com/5HD0sLYTk1
— Waqar Younis (@waqyounis99) April 4, 2021
https://twitter.com/hazharoon/status/1378999802239803395
The checky smile tell the story 😀
— Muzamil Noor (@Mzml_Noor) April 5, 2021
https://twitter.com/PBKSTaran/status/1379002178023591939
While defending the law, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) tweeted that it’s up to the umpires to rule if the law was broken.
The Law is clear, with the offence being an ATTEMPT to deceive, rather than the batsman actually being deceived.
It’s up to the umpires to decide if there was such an attempt. If so, then it's Not out, 5 Penalty runs + the 2 they ran, and batsmen choose who faces next ball.
— Marylebone Cricket Club (@MCCOfficial) April 4, 2021
