Notably, with the hosts needing 17 runs to win after their last-wicket pair of Dean and Freya Davies added 35 runs, Deepti, upon noticing that Dean was outside her crease at the non-striker’s end, stopped in her bowling stride and whipped the bails off.
The incident triggered spirit-of-cricket debates, with several experts and former cricketers from England expressing their displeasure at the dismissal. Even though it was pretty much within the laws, many felt that the Indian team should have issued a warning.
However, now, Deepti has herself revealed that she took off the bails at the non-striker’s end only after issuing several warnings to the opposition. The star all-rounder said they also spoke to the umpire, but Dean kept making the same mistake.
“It was historic for sure. For the first time, we defeated England in their own country and won the series 3-0. That was our plan because she was repeatedly doing it, and we had warned them too. We had also informed the umpires. But still, she was right there, so there wasn’t much we could do. We did everything according to the rules and guidelines,” Deepti told the reporters upon Team India’s arrival in India.
Not long after the unnecessary controversy, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) — the custodians of the laws of cricket – issued a statement clarifying their stance on the subject. Notably, the MCC had earlier this year moved the mode of dismissal from the ‘unfair play’ section of their laws to the ‘run out’ category.
“MCC this year announced amendments to the laws of cricket to move being run out at the non-striker’s end, from law 41 unfair play to law 38 run out. This was done to clarify this matter and to place an onus on batters to ensure that they do not leave the crease at the non-striker’s end prior to a bowler releasing the ball. The Law is clear, as it needs to be for all umpires to be able to easily interpret throughout all levels of the game and at all moments in the game,” the MCC said in a statement.
“Cricket is a broad church, and the spirit by which it is played is no different. As custodians of the Spirit of Cricket, MCC appreciates its application is interpreted differently across the globe. Respectful debate is healthy and should continue, as where one person sees the bowler as breaching the Spirit in such examples, another will point at the non-striker gaining an unfair advantage by leaving their ground early.MCC’s message to non-strikers continues to be to remain on their ground until they have seen the ball leave the bowler’s hand. Then dismissals, such as the one seen yesterday, cannot happen. Whilst yesterday was indeed an unusual end to an exciting match, it was properly officiated and should not be considered as anything more,” the statement added.
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