'We need to basically play in baseball style' - Dale Steyn after last-ball LBW loophole exposed in SRH vs RR clash

Sunrisers Hyderabad registered a thrilling win against Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Both sides faced off in the 50th game of the tournament, and it was the very last ball of the clash that became a reason for controversy. 

Needing two runs to win off the last ball, Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a full toss to Rovman Powell as the batter was dismissed via LBW. Powell immediately reviewed the decision, which was upheld by the TV umpire. However, a successful review for Royals would not have made any difference in the outcome either. 

Appendix D of the ICC (International Cricket Council) rules mentions that the ball becomes dead once the umpire has signalled out. "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 rule book states. 

As for the rules, many were left hypothesizing that if the umpire had given not-out and the decision was overturned, what could have been the outcome? Speaking on the same, former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn came forward to talk about how cricket should adapt to a baseball style.

“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 awarded if LBW or caught was not out,” Steyn wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).

After posting a total of 201 runs on the board, SRH did a commendable job in the death overs of the second innings to deny RR a win. Leading the standings, the Royals are one of the most in-form sides in the tournament, and they looked to be edging towards a win. However, a brilliant final over by Bhuvneshwar Kumar saw SRH win the game by one run.