India were awarded five penalty runs after Bangladesh fielder Yasir Ali threw the ball at stationary fielding helmets behind the wicket, resulting in a total of seven runs for the batting side off one ball.
The incident occurred on day two of the Chattogram Test, when a ball from Taijul Islam caught the outside half of R Ashwin’s bat and trickled past first slip off the first ball of the 111th over. Yasir chased the ball from first slip, backing up Mushfiqur Rahim, who collected the ball. Rahim flicked it back to Yasir, who hurled it towards the stumps. Or so he thought.
Two fielding helmets, resting behind the wicketkeeper’s spot, took the impact of Yasir’s throw instead, one of them bouncing out of position. Umpire Michael Gough signalled a five-run penalty for the same. With Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav having run two already, the entire play resulted in a total of seven runs.
According to clause 28.3.2 of MCC’s fielder laws, if the ball strikes a protective helmet kept by the fielding side:
– the umpire shall signal No ball or Wide to the scorers, if applicable
– the umpire shall award 5 Penalty runs to the batting side
– any runs completed by the batters before the ball strikes
– the protective helmet shall be scored, together with the run in progress if the batters had already crossed at the instant of the ball striking the protective helmet.
At the time of writing, Bangladesh were 59-4 after bowling out India for 404.
