Bipin Dani
One of the rare instances had happened in the ongoing IPL tournament in the UAE.
In the KKR vs. Rajasthan Royals IPL match at the Sharjah Cricket Ground RR batsman Shivam Dube walked out to bat.
He was then asked by the team management to return and allow Anuj Rawat to walk out. The umpires rightly disallowed it saying that once Dube has stepped into the ground he cannot go back.
“Law 25.2 is clear on this matter”, says Jonny Singer, the official at the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club). 25.2 Commencement of a batter’s innings “The innings of the first two batters, and that of any new batter on the resumption of play after a call of Time, shall commence at the call of Play.
At any other time, a batter’s innings shall be considered to have commenced when that batter first steps onto the field of play”, he said.
“Once the batter had stepped onto the field, his innings had begun. The umpires were thus correct under the Laws”. “There is no recourse for the fielding side to overrule the umpires on this matter”, he added.
Interestingly, Kumar Sangakkara, who till recently was a president of the MCC, which governs the laws of the game is a Director of the Rajasthan Royals team and was sitting in the dug out when the incident had happened.
