The India vs New Zealand Women’s T20 World Cup saw a big controversy erupt over a run-out call by the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team. In the 14th over, the Indian players appealed for a run out against New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr. After a miscommunication during a run-out attempt, the ball was declared dead, sparking heated discussions between Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur and the umpires. Despite this, Kerr was dismissed two balls later.
According to the Laws of Cricket, the incident was quite ambiguous and a mistake of sorts was committed by either side.
Law 20, clause 20.1 states: “The ball shall be considered to be dead when it is clear to the bowler’s end umpire that the fielding side and both batters at the wicket have ceased to regard it as in play.”
As Kerr attempeted a second run and India went for a run out, it may mean neither stopped to regard it in play.
However, Clause 20.6 states: “Once the ball is dead, no revoking of any decision can bring the ball back into play for that delivery.” That umpires had declared the ball dead, hence there is no coming back from there.
In the run-up to the Women’s T20 World Cup, many people including the Indian players, talked about how this was the best-ever team to play in an edition of the tournament, with all bases covered. But Harmanpreet Kaur & co, the pre-tournament favourites, were off to a rough start in Group A with insipid performances across all facets and slumped to a heavy 58-run defeat to New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday.
“We didn’t play our best cricket. Going forward we know every game is important. We created chances but we were not able to avail those chances. They played better cricket than us, no doubt about that. (In) Fielding we made some mistakes so that is a learning for us going forward.”
“We have chased 160-170 many times, we were expecting that on the board. While batting, we knew someone had to bat through but we kept losing wickets. We know this group is capable of (doing) better, this wasn’t the start we were expecting but we have to go (up) from here,” said a disappointed Harmanpreet after the match ended.
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