Incident happened during 2023 World Cup match between India and Bangladesh in Pune.
India and Bangladesh had clashed in Pune, and Bangladesh opted to bat first. Thanks to half-centuries by Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das and useful contributions from Mushfiqur Rahim (38) and Mahmudullah (46), Bangladesh posted 256/8.
In response, Shubman Gill made 53 and Rohit Sharma made 48, but it was Virat Kohli, who shouldered the chase and scored 103* with 6 fours and 4 sixes, as India won by 7 wickets to continue their winning run.
“In one of the games I was part of for Yorkshire, there was this incident where one of our batters was denied his century by an opposition bowler, who bowled a deliberate wide. I remember that incident, and it came back to me during this match between India and Bangladesh. One of the players who was about to bowl said to the captain that he would bowl a wide.
The captain, I must say, objected to the idea immediately and asked him not to do any such thing. The bowler, however, fired the ball down the leg side, and I instantly went back to the conversation I had heard between the bowler and the captain. I decided not to call it a wide, and the very next ball, Virat hit a six and got to his hundred,” said Richard in conversation with Boria Majumdar for Money Control.
It was one of those situations where the umpire had to make a decision and had to choose between morality and the law. If Richard had precisely followed the rules, the ball might have been deemed a wide. However, if he followed the spirit of the game, he had every right to refrain from calling it a wide because the bowler's intentional action went against the ethos of a sportsman.
Boria also asked Richard about the altercation between Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Sri Lanka A players during their recent game of the tri-series in Dambulla.
“Things build up for a while and mostly don’t just happen all of a sudden. As an umpire, you need to read the game and understand when you need to step in. On occasions, you can just have a silent word, and on other occasions, if you think it is getting a bit much, you stop the game so that everyone can see and speak to the players to calm things down. But you must ensure that you keep calm and get things back on track,” said Richard.
Notably, Richard Kettleborough played county cricket for Yorkshire and was part of the playing team in which Sachin Tendulkar also played in 1992.