Much has been said about the controversial call made by English umpire Richard Kettleborough as his decision to not give a wide in the recent India v Bangladesh ICC World Cup 2023 match in Pune on October 19 caused uproar. The decision indirectly helped Virat Kohli get to a brilliant unbeaten century.
India chased down 256 runs with 7 wickets in hand and 51 balls to spare. Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 103 and earlier Rohit Sharma (48) and Shubman Gill (53) had given the team a flying start. This was India’s fourth win in 4 matches and gave them 8 points.
The 42nd over of India's chase against Bangladesh began with the game already decided, but Kohli was on a mission to reach three figures. India needed two points to win, and he had 97.
He achieved three figures and won the game with a six on the third ball of the over, but not before the umpire made an unusual judgment. Nasum Ahmed's first ball was delivered down the leg side, but no wide was signaled, and Kettleborough smirked as his arms remained in position.
Many are alleging that Kettleborough did that deliberately so that Kohli could get to his hundred. Some are sarcastically saying that the umpire should be given the “Player of the Match" award while some believe that the umpires panel should take this seriously.
However, upon closer inspection, one can see that it’s also possible that a change to the Laws of Cricket in 2022, which was brought in to aid bowlers, played a part in helping Kohli last night.
A statement released by the MCC in March 2022 stated, “In the modern game, batters are, more than ever, moving laterally around the crease before the ball is bowled. It was felt unfair that a delivery might be called ‘Wide’ if it passes where the batter had stood as the bowler entered his/her delivery stride.
Therefore, Law 22.1 has been amended so that a Wide will apply to where the batter is standing, where the striker has stood at any point since the bowler began their run-up, and which would also have passed wide of the striker in a normal batting position.”
Now as per this new rule, Nasum’s delivery would have been called a wide if it was to be known that the ball would not come in contact with Kohli, who took his stance across the leg side as the bowler came in for the delivery, and any part of his body.
If the ball would have hit Kohli if he had stayed still, then not calling it wide is the right decision.
