During the T20 Women's World Cup between India and New Zealand, a major controversy arose over a run-out call by the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team. In the 14th over, the Indian players called for a run-out against New Zealand's Amelia Kerr. Following a miscommunication during a run-out attempt, the ball was declared dead, leading to heated arguments between Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur and the umpires. Despite this, Kerr was dismissed two balls later.
As per the laws of cricket, the incident was quite ambiguous and some sort of mistake was made by both sides.
Law 20, clause 20.1 states: “The ball shall be deemed dead when it is apparent to the bowler's end umpire that the fielding side and both batters at the wicket no longer consider the ball to be in play.”
When Kerr attempted a second run and India made a run-out, it may mean neither stopped to consider it in play.
However, Clause 20.6 states: “Once the ball is dead, revoking any decision cannot put the ball back in play for that ball.” Those referees had declared the ball dead, hence there is no return.
Ahead of the Women's T20 World Cup, many people, including the Indian players, talked about how this was the best team to ever play in an edition of the tournament, with all the bases covered. But pre-tournament favorites Harmanpreet Kaur & co got off to a tough start in Group A with insipid performances on all fronts and slumped to a heavy 58-run defeat to New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday.
“We didn't play our best cricket. Going forward, we know every game is important. We created chances but we couldn't take those chances. They played better cricket than us, there's no doubt about that. (In) Fielding we have made.” A number of mistakes were made, so that is a learning moment for us for the future.”
“We often chased 160-170, which is what we expected on the board. While batting, we knew someone had to bat, but we kept losing wickets. We know this group can (do) better, this was not the start we expected, but we have to go (up) from here,” said a disappointed Harmanpreet after the match.
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