(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] A controversy erupted in the 17th match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 between hosts India and Bangladesh on Thursday.
Kohli was batting on 97 runs in the run-chase against and was one hit away from his 48th ODI century. However, only two runs were needed to win the match, leaving Kohli with the only option to go for a big hit to reach his hundred.
Nasum Ahmed, who had the ball in his hand, came to bowl the 42nd over of the innings when India needed two runs to win. Ahmed delivered the first ball of the over to Kohli down the leg side. However, he left it, and it appeared to be a wide ball to the naked eye. On-field Umpire Richard Kettleborough, however, did not call the ball a wide, leaving some netizens furious and speculating that he favoured Kohli so that he could get to his ton.
According to a changed rule by the MCC, the umpire was right in his judgment to not rule that particular delivery a wide. Why? Because of the amended law that states the ball will only be declared wide if the batter is not in a position to be able to play it right from the start of the bowler’s run-up.
“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,” a statement released by the MCC in March 2022 said.
“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.”
Nevertheless, even if the umpire had called that ball a wide, India would have needed one run, and Kohli would have required three for the milestone in that scenario. He could have still finished off the innings with a boundary.
However, as the umpire deemed it a legal delivery, India still needed those two runs. Kohli, on the third delivery of that over, smashed a six to complete his 78th international hundred.
He finished unbeaten on 103 runs off 97 balls, helping India chase down the target in 41.3 overs.