Virat Kohli and his fans were left shocked for a while after Bangladesh spinner Nasum Ahmed bowl a wide to start his over. Virat Kohli was batting on 97, with India needing just 2 runs before the start of the over.
As no one knows if the bowler bowl a wide deliberately or not, fans were surely left upset for a while.
But there was no signal from the umpire even as there was a slight pause after the ball was deliver.
The umpire did not open his arms and the fans heaved a sigh of relief.
The first ball of the 42nd over wasn’t adjudge wide despite it going down the leg.
And the viewers might be thinking that it was probably done to help Virat Kohli complete his century, that is not the case.
A recent change in the wide ball’s law play a part in Richard Kettleborough not calling it a wide.
MCC’s new rules say about wide :
“A ball will be consider as passing wide of the striker unless it is sufficiently within reach for him/her to be able to hit it with the bat by means of a normal cricket stroke,".
“The umpire shall not adjudge a delivery as being a Wide, if the striker, by moving, either causes the ball to pass wide of him/her.”
While in Virat Kohli’s case, the umpire probably thought that the ball would have hit the batsman had he not move the other way.
So, the delivery wasn’t adjudge wide.
All this benefit Virat Kohli against Bangladesh, it can easily deprive any team of one run and when it will happen, a batsman won’t understand the umpire’s point.
Normally, any ball outside the leg stump is adjudge a wide in white-ball cricket.
The latest change in the rule has only adds to the confusion and there could be a change in the law sooner than later.
Virat Kohli step down and hit a six to complete his century.
He now has 48 centuries in ODIs and is just one ton short of Sachin Tendulkar’s world record.
