The recent ILT20 2025 match between MI Emirates and Desert Vipers showed a chaotic moment involving MIE keeper Nicholas Pooran. The wicketkeeper deliberately chose not to stump out batter Max Holden as he was struggling to get the bat to the ball in a tactical move.
Desert Vipers were asked to bat first by MI Emirates in the 9th match of the ILT20 in Abu Dhabi. Fakhar Zaman made 35 in 31 balls, and Andries Gous made 21 in 15 before retiring out.
Then Max Holden came out at no.3, and though he made 42 runs, it took him 37 balls with three fours. The innings was going nowhere as the Vipers were stuck at 117 for 1 after 15.5 overs.
Rashid Khan produced a short, wide delivery on the final ball of the 16th over, which Holden missed despite venturing out of his crease.
Pooran collected it cleanly and had the simplest stumpings available, which the nice keepers completed while sleeping. Instead, he froze, kept the ball, and allowed Holden to walk back into his crease unharmed.
But the twist came moments later. Holden, having profited from Pooran's leniency, was quickly retired by the Vipers at the end of the over, making room for Sam Curran.
See here:
The laws here are straightforward: a keeper is not obligated to complete a stumping, and a team is free to retire a batter out for tactical reasons. Pooran’s non-stumping was entirely legal, and arguably logical — why dismiss a struggling batter when his slow scoring benefits your team?
Shimron Hetmyer and Dan Lawrence’s quick knocks helped the Vipers make 159/4 in 20 overs. In response, David Payne took 4/29 as MIE was restricted to 158/9 and lost the game by one run.
