3 times batters survived due to no-ball and scored big in ICC knock-out matches

In any cricketing format, bowling a no-ball is considered almost a crime. Things get worse for any team when it’s contesting against a quality side in an ICC knockout game and a batter from the opposition gets dismissed on an unfair delivery and survives due to the error.

Recently, in the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) final between Australia and India, Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur got reprieves in the first innings due to no-balls bowled by the Aussie skipper, Pat Cummins. However, the mistake from the Australia captain didn’t affect his team as Cummins and his men bagged the game comfortably in the end.

There have been several instances in the past when a few batters got lifelines in knockout games due to no-balls delivered by bowlers. Riding on the grave mistakes of the opposition, these batters changed the course of the game to help their teams emerge victorious in the knock-out contests.

Here are the three instances when batters got a lifeline due to no-balls bowled in ICC knockout matches:

3. Rohit Sharma- 2015 World Cup quarter-final

In the second quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup, India and Bangladesh clashed with each other at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Winning the toss, India captain, MS Dhoni, elected to bat first.

India openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan gave a stable start to their team, but after 16 overs, the Bangladesh side made a comeback as Shakib Al Hasan dismissed Dhawan (30 runs off 50 deliveries) and Rubel Hossain picked up Virat Kohli (three runs off eight balls).

Later, Rahane also threw his wicket cheaply but Rohit was standing firm in the middle to take the team to a huge score. While batting on 90, Sharma got caught on Rubel Hossain’s delivery but the right-handed batter was signalled not out as the umpire declared the ball from Hossain a no-ball.

Getting another life, Sharma went on to conclude his innings on 137 off just 126. Riding on Rohit’s fabulous knock, the Men in Blue put up 302 runs on the board to register an enormous 109-run victory over the Bangla Tigers in the match. Rohit also got the Player of the Match award for his sensational innings.