A glaring loophole regarding the lbw law and how it is monitored with DRS was exposed during Sunrisers Hyderabad’s clash with Rajasthan Royals in the 2024 Indian Premier League on Thursday (May 2).
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.
The incident occurred during the last ball of Rajasthan’s run chase when they needed two to win off the final delivery, bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The seamer sent down a full toss on leg stump, which hit striker Rovman Powell on the pads. The on-field umpire adjudged him out and the batter immediately took a review. The TV umpire also ruled him out, resulting in a one-run win for SRH but viewers were quick to point out a loophole in the regulations, which would have seen Hyderabad lose the match even if the lbw decision had been reversed and the two batters scampered through for a single.
In case Powell and Ravichandran Ashwin had taken a single on the last ball of the match and the lbw decision had been overturned by the third umpire, Rajasthan would not have been credited with the run and the match, instead of going into a Super Over, would have still ended with a win for SRH.
According to Article 3.7.1 in the IPL Playing Conditions, a dead ball will be called if: “Following a Player Review request, an original decision of Out is changed to Not out, then the ball is still deemed to have become dead when the original decision was made. The batting side, while benefiting from the reversal of the dismissal, shall not benefit from any runs that may subsequently have accrued from the delivery had the on-field umpire originally made a Not out decision, other than any No ball penalty.”
[breakout id=”0″][/breakout]
According to the above clause, the ball is deemed to be dead as soon as the original decision of ‘Out’ is made and the batting side does not benefit from any runs even if it is called a ‘Not out’ in the end. Thus, even if Powell was given out lbw wrongly, any runs Rajasthan made after the original decision would not have mattered.
The same would also have been true if the on-field umpire failed to spot an inside edge while ruling a batter out lbw. Even if the ball had run away to the boundary, the batting team would be given no runs even though the on-field umpire made an error.
The current regulations may potentially create major controversy if a batter is wrongly given out in a crucial game and where the runs he scores off the delivery will not be counted. It led to concerned viewers expressing their reactions and offering solutions to make the law foolproof.
What if the DRS concluded that the ball was missing the stumps?? And Powell wasn’t out.
This is one faux-pas DRS hasn’t thought through…once the umpire gives it out (even if it’s not-out) the ball is dead. That meant…SRH winning the match even if that leg-bye went for a…— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 2, 2024
I have already tweeted about this a million times. Even if Powell is not out (decision reversed by DRS) , the on field umpire gave him out so the leg bye won’t be counted and SRH would have still won by 1 run and this is a pathetic rule. https://t.co/Gftvgm3NCO
— Prasanna (@prasannalara) May 2, 2024
We need to basically play in baseball style.
Consider the ball not dead until play has come to a stop. So essentially, run if you’re the batting team and continue to field if you’re the bowling team.
Then we address the LBW or caught off no ball etc after. Out if out, runs…— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) May 3, 2024
