WPL 2025: Run-out calls in MI-DC clash puts spotlight on rules around LED stumps

The second match in the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2025 turned out to be a dramatic affair as Delhi Capitals (DC) beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by two wickets off the last ball at the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara on Saturday, February 15.

Three dubious run-out decisions were taken in the closing stages of the pulsating clash. In all three occasions, third umpire Gayathri Venugopalan ruled not out, seemingly not considering the LED stumps lighting up as the point at which the wicket should be regarded as broken.

Former India captain Mithali Raj, who was on commentary during the encounter, said that two of those decisions - involving Shikha Pandey and Radha Yadav - should have been in the favour of inaugural champions MI.

"Pandey was given not out while the batter had the bat on the line," Raj said while speaking on JioHotstar after the clash. "When you dive and your bat first hits the ground [inside the crease] and then it [bounces up] because you have to dive full stretch, then it is not out. [But] with Radha Yadav, we can see the blade of the bat up. It is nowhere touching any part of the ground [inside] the crease [when the LED stumps light up]. That means she is out. The bat was never in the crease. That is pretty much out."

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As per Appendix D of the WPL 2025 playing conditions, the wicket is considered broken in case of LED stumps at "the moment at which the wicket has been put down shall be deemed to be the first frame in which the LED lights are illuminated and subsequent frames show the bail permanently removed from the top of the stumps."

On all three instances, it was evident that the batters hadn't made their crease when the LED stumps lit up. However, the third umpire went with the frames where the bails were completely lifted off their groove and this approach saved the batters.