Virat Kohli was seething on Saturday after the third umpire controversially declared him out LBW after seeing the TV replay, which appeared to show the ball hitting the bat and pad simultaneously.
Kohli was batting at 48 and appeared all set to complete his fifty when Dewald Brevis’ first delivery struck his bat and pad. The field umpire quickly declared the former India skipper out. Kohli challenged the field umpire’s decision and the matter was referred to the third umpire, who looked at the TV replay and found that the ball appeared to hit the bat and Kohli’s pad simultaneously. The third umpire upheld the field umpire’s decision and Kohli had to go.
While leaving the ground, Kohli looked to be seething in anger. A day later, he found support from his IPL team, which took a dig at the third umpire by reminding the MCC rule.
It wrote, “We were just reading through the MCC Laws of Cricket for LBW decisions, and here’s what we found. ?? Unfortunate that Virat Kohli had to walk back disappointed after a brilliant knock.”
According to the MCC rules 36.2.2, ‘if the ball makes contact with the striker’s person and bat simultaneously, this shall be considered as the ball having first touched the bat.”
Under the MCC’s laws on cricket cited by Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kohli should never have been declared out and the third umpire ought to have asked the field umpire to reverse his decision.
Though Kohli’s dismissal did not impact the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s outcome in the match, it prevented the star player from reaching another IPL milestone. The RCB thrashed Mumbai Indians by seven wickets with more than one over to spare. Anuj Rawat was declared Player Of The Match. Together both Anuj and Kohli had added 80 runs for the second wicket.
