The second and final Test between Pakistan and New Zealand ended in a dramatic draw at the National Stadium in Karachi on Friday. While the tourists were one wicket away from victory, the hosts needed 15 runs, but the play was stopped due to bad light, resulting in a 0-0 series tie.
After the thrilling contest, former South Africa skipper AB de Villiers spoke in detail about the bad light and pointed out a grey area in the rule book of Test cricket. De Villiers reckoned that if the fielding is instructed to bring spinners due to bad light, they should have the liberty to bring a pacer if the batting side manages to trim the equation down to five runs or so.
“Another little grey area in the rule book, imo. If the fielding team is told to bowl spin because of bad light and they take the option, they should be forced to finish the overs with spin until the Umps call it off, cause they can bring seam on at any time to finish the match,” De Villiers wrote on his official Twitter handle.
“If the batting team manages to get it down to 5 or so runs required, the fielding team can just opt to bring on a seamer. Not fair, imo,” he added.
If the batting team manages to get it down to 5 or so runs required, the fielding team can just opt to bring on a seamer. Not fair imo
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) January 6, 2023
Notably, a similar scene was witnessed in the ongoing third and final Test between Australia and South Africa in Sydney when the play on Day 1 was disrupted due to bad light. Australia were batting at 147/2 when umpires called for stumps, as overcast conditions at SCG brought a halt to the action. After this, the legendary Steve Waugh called for the implementation of new rules in such scenarios.
“Test cricket needs to realise there is a lot of competition out there, and not using the lights when the players are off for bad light simply doesn’t add up. Lots of unhappy spectators who can’t understand the rationale and reason for no play,” Waugh captioned his Instagram post.
