Watch: A six by Nasum Ahmed during the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Super Four match at the 2023 Asia Cup led to some discussion.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.
Chasing 258 at R Premadasa Stadium, Bangladesh were reduced to 216-9 when No.11 Hasan Mahmud joined No.9 Nasum Ahmed. Hasan hit two fours off Matheesha Pathirana. At the other end, Nasum Ahmed lofted a ball from Maheesh Theekshana down the ground.
Substitute fielder Dushan Hemantha leapt up and caught it in the air. However, when he realised that he would topple over the line, he threw the ball back into play.
The umpires, Jayaraman Madanagopal and Paul Wilson, referred it to television umpire Langton Rusere, who ruled it a six. The decision confused on-air commentators Roshan Abeysinghe and Dominic Cork.
One can perhaps understand their confusion. While Hemantha’s boots had brushed the ropes when he leapt, he was fully airborne when he held the catch and threw it back.
But the umpires – rightly – referred to Law 19.5.2: “A fielder who is not in contact with the ground is considered to be grounded beyond the boundary if his/her final contact with the ground, before his/her first contact with the ball after it has been delivered by the bowler, was not entirely within the boundary.”
Hemantha’s “final contact with the ground” before his “first contact with the ball after it has been delivered by the bowler” was indeed “not entirely within the boundary”.
Nasum’s six six brought the target down to 25 in 15 balls, and Nasum and Mahmud brought it down to 22 in 12 with three singles. Pathirana yorked Nasum with the first ball of the next over to end the match.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan have now won their only Super Four matches, while Bangladesh have lost both of theirs.
