Deep Dasgupta disagrees with Simon Taufel; has his own interpretation on deflection controversy

Ever since England all-rounder Ben Stokes saw the throw-in from Martin Guptill deflecting to the boundary after hitting his bat as he dived to complete the second run, a pandora’s box has been opened in the cricketing world. The on-field umpire on the occasion Kumar Dharmasena, a former Sri Lanka international, awarded six runs to the chasing side as a result (two singles plus the four overthrows) making the equation much easier for England.

From nine required off three balls, the home team suddenly saw it requiring only three off two and the game ended in a tie and subsequently won by England on dubious grounds. The end result left the cricketing fraternity in deep shock as New Zealand lost the final just because they had hit fewer boundaries than England.

Former umpire Simon Taufel from Australia later said that the umpire should have given five runs to England and not six and it was a “clear mistake”. The second run was deemed invalid since the rule said the batsmen should have crossed at the instance of the release of the throw by the fielder. In the case of Stokes and Adil Rashid, it was not the case.

As per Rule 19.8 which is related to overthrow or willful act of fielder: “If the boundary results from an overthrow or from the willful act of a fielder, the runs scored shall be:
— any runs for penalties awarded to either side
— and the allowance for the boundary
— and the runs completed by the batsmen, together with the run in progress if they had already crossed at the instant of the throw or act.”

‘Act’ mentions the process of breaking the stumps, feels Dasgupta

Former India wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta agreed to disagree with Taufel, five-time winner of the ICC’s Umpire of the Year and one of the best officials the game has ever seen. He interpreted the word “act” as the “process of breaking the stumps” and said that the two batsmen had crossed each other at the instant of the act. The ball though had never broken the stump on that instance but went for four.