Wadhera-Dhir catch causes quite a furore as the new laws for boundary catching comes into the picture in this case.
Wadhera-Dhir relay catch: out or not out?.
On November 16, during Pakistan A’s victory over India A in the Asia Cup Rising Stars, a relay catch between India A fielders Nehal Wadhera and Naman Dhir was ruled not out by the third umpire, causing controversy and uncertainty.
Pakistan Maaz Sadaqat opened for India. Suyash Sharma, a spinner, is attempting to clear the cow corner boundary at the beginning of the tenth over of the chase. Wadhera grabbed the ball after moving to his right from deep midwicket, but before his momentum allowed him to cross the boundary rope, he threw it in the direction of Dhir, who was sprinting back from long-on.
Due to the third umpire’s interpretation of the new ICC regulations about fielders making touch with the ball after jumping from outside the boundary, the catch was declared illegal.
A fielder must first land back within the field of play for the ball to be out if he jumps from beyond the rope and makes contact with it, according to a new regulation that went into effect in June of this year.
In the Wadhera-Dhir catch, it is evident that Wadhera caught the ball and let it go while it was still in the playing field. According to the rules, his foot was still within the field of play even if it was in the air over the rope, as he had not grounded his foot beyond the rope.
After tossing the ball to Dhir, he crossed the boundary rope and left the playing ground. Since he was not in contact with the ball after crossing the rope, it shouldn’t have mattered that he landed outside of it. Additionally, the fact that he was outside the rope when Dhir made the catch shouldn’t have mattered. Therefore, the catch ought to have been distributed even under the new regulations.
Wadhera and Dhir were therefore unfortunate to have their catch rejected. The umpires then declared it to be a dot ball instead of a six.
As Pakistan A pursued the mark of 137 in the 13.2 overs, Sadaqat, who was batting at 56 at the time, finished undefeated at 79.