Pakistan cricket fraternity was angered and frustrated after the Men in Green lost to India in their T20 World Cup 2022 encounter in Melbourne on Sunday, October 23. The match went right down to the wire with India winning on the last ball.
Virat Kohli starred with the bat, scoring a masterful 82* in 53 balls, with Hardik Pandya contributing 40 runs. Kohli hammered Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf in the 18th and 19th overs for three fours and two sixes respectively bringing the equations down to 16 runs needed in the last over bowled by Mohammad Nawaz.
The over proved to be a highly volatile one as Nawaz dismissed Pandya on the first ball and then gave away a six on the 4th ball which was a waist-high full-toss and was called a no-ball by the on-field umpire at square-leg.
Marais Erasmus, who was officiating at the leg side was the one to make the call which led to Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi arguing with him and Rod Tucker about the ruling.
Reacting to the no-ball call, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said, Erasmus should have referred it to the third umpire instead of making the decision on his own. However, as per rules, the no-ball can only be referred to the third umpire, if a wicket falls on it, and in this instance, it went for a six.
"Jab se ye third umpire aya hai... Bohut sare run outs hai jaha pe on-field umpire bas signal kar dete hai third umpire k liye. Wo ek crucial situation tha, waha pe agar third umpire ko refer kar dete toh wo aapko bata dete but aapne fauran kar di no-ball ka ishara. Itni koi eagle eyes nahi hai aapki, third umpire ko refer kar sakte the. (There are many instances in the past when the umpires immediately signal for the third umpire for run-out appeals. That was a crucial stage of the match, it should have been referred to the third umpire, who could have been a better judge. You don't have eagle eyes that you made a decision so quickly)," Afridi said on Samaa TV.
Meanwhile, more controversy and action were seen on the next ball, as Nawaz bowled a wide on the free-hit, and on the following delivery, he managed to sneak a yorker under Kohli’s bat, which hit the stumps and went towards the third man.
However, Kohli called Dinesh Karthik for a run and both of them ran three before Shaheen retrieved the ball and threw it to Rizwan. This led to Rizwan appealing for a dead ball as the ball had hit the stumps and Babar and several Pakistan players surrounded the umpire and expressed dissatisfaction over the three runs that India took during the process.
However, the umpire signaled it as byes, following which a few fans and experts took to social media, raising questions if it was as per the rule. The rules state that given the ball was a free hit and was still in play despite hitting the stumps and hence the runs were valid. The ball only becomes dead after hitting the stumps if the dismissal happened on a legal ball.
Former Pakistan opener Salman Butt too has opined on the same in a video shared on his YouTube channel and slammed the Pakistan players for not knowing the cricketing rules and laws and said that they should take classes to understand the laws better.
"Pakistani players need to have a better understanding of the laws. We have umpires like Aleem Dar and Hasan Raza along with other officials who can help the team with that. The players should take these classes and clear their doubts by asking questions. Because while these scenarios are rare, they can occur anytime in pressure situations," said Butt in the video.
India will next face the Netherlands on October 27, while Pakistan takes on Zimbabwe on the same day as well.
