Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra has called the International Cricket Council (ICC) to tweak the Decision Review System (DRS) rules after Mumbai Indians (MI) deprived of a single run in an IPL 2020 match against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) on Thursday (1st October).
In the enthralling 13th match of the ongoing IPL 2020, the defending champions completely dominated KXIP in all the three departments, as the MI defeated the KXIP by 48 runs riding on brilliant batting display from skipper Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, and Hardik Pandya in Abu Dhabi.
MI bowlers were also clinical in the match as they successfully defended 191 by dismissing KXIP to 143 for eight with the help of top-quality bowling by Jasprit Bumrah and Rahul Chahar to secure the much-needed victory for the defending champions on Thursday.
Well, apart from the brutal hitting from the MI batters, the DRS rules have yet again came under the scanner after MI’s versatile batsman Pollard was robbed of a solitary run despite the on-field umpire’s decision overturned in the match in Abu Dhabi.
The incident took place in the 17th overs of MI’ innings when Pollard was struck on his pads off the KXIP paceman Mohammad Shami’s fast delivery and the on-field umpire adjudged the batsman lbw.
However, the West Indian hard-hitter decided to review the call as he felt he had got some bat on that and the replays confirmed there was an inside edge and he got the decision reversed successfully.
Well, Pollard managed to get the lifeline, but no one realized that he and Pandya had also taken a run during the lbw appeal, but that run didn’t count to the MI’s total because of an ICC rule which says the ball is considered dead once the umpire gives the batsman out, therefore, no run is counted.
Notably, the ICC rule says “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dismissal, shall not benefit from any runs that may subsequently have accrued from the delivery had the on-field umpire originally made a Not-out decision, other than any no-ball penalty”.
Reacting to the controversial rule, Chopra urged the ICC to rethink about the rule as it might cost someone the World Cup someday. He also believes that run should’ve been counted.
He wrote on Twitter, “Pollard and #MI denied a single. LBW gave. Reviewed. Inside edge confirmed. But the easy run they took won’t count. Dear @ICC, this might cost someone the World Cup someday. Need a rethink. Umpires will have to reserve their decision till the ball is dead. #MIvsKXIP”
