T20 World Cup 2022: Participating captains clear their stand on non-striker run outs

With the T20 World Cup 2022 set to start on October 16, captains of all the 16 teams participating in the event gathered at the Plaza Ballroom in Melbourne to speak to the media.

The skippers of all the participating nations were asked interesting questions and some controversial ones as well by journalists present for the press conference. It was during the session, when a journalist raised a rather interesting yet controversial question.

An awkward silence followed when the journalist asked if they (all the captains) will run a non-striker out (if he tries to back up too much) before the ball is bowled. The question seemed inspired by the controversial run out made by team India's Deepti Sharma against England’s Charlie Dean during the third ODI at Lord's last month in September.

Aaron Finch clears air on non-striker run out debate

Captains from Australia, New Zealand, England, Afghanistan, Namibia, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, and the UAE took the stage in the first batch as the presser was divided into slots. The journalist asked the captains to respond by a show of hands but to everyone’s surprise, not a single skipper raised his hand and it was followed with an awkward silence in the arena.

Recently, Mitchell Starc warned England skipper Jos Buttler as he stepped out of the crease on Friday, October 14 in the final T20I of the three-match series. Following the event, Aaron Finch cleared the air on the debate expressing that it would be ‘fair’ after a warning.

"I think if batters get a warning then it's fair game after that. That would go for most teams, I assume, if you give the batter a warning that they are getting a little too much ground before the ball is bowled. But I'm not a big fan of it, to be fair, personally,” said Finch after the match.

Moreover, the non-strikers run out row has been a gray area to determine whether the act is justified or not.