India vs England: Why was Rishabh Pant denied four runs despite ball racing towards boundary?

Some of the rules in cricket are always in the limelight due to the confusion it creates among the viewers. The umpire’s call in DRS and the soft signal have already been in discussion over the last few days. And once again, during the second ODI between India and England, another baffling rule in the sport left the fans confused.

The incident happened on the last ball of the 40th over when Tom Curran was bowling. Rishabh Pant was the batsman on strike who premeditated the famous reverse lap which he successfully attempted against Jofra Archer and James Anderson in T20I and Test series respectively. However, the length of the ball delivered was too full and the southpaw missed the ball.

In real-time, it seemed as if the ball hit the pad and sneaked past the leg-stump for a four. England players and even the umpire also felt the same as the latter upheld a vociferous appeal. However, replays confirmed that the ball never hit Rishabh Pant‘s pad and it had actually hit the bat. As the batsman had opted for DRS, the on-field decision was overturned.

This is where the confusion began as though Pant was given not-out but India were not awarded four runs as the ball had only taken bat’s edge before racing towards boundary

What is the rule?

The viewers were perplexed to see the umpiring not signalling a four on that occasion. The fact is, the umpires are not at fault at all in this case as the rules are designed in such a way. The rule states that, if a batsman is given out leg before, the ball at that moment becomes dead even if the decision is overturned later. Once the batsman is given out, what happens later doesn’t matter at all.

In this case, the umpire had adjudged Rishabh Pant out after which the ball reached the boundary. Hence, the moment he was given out, it didn’t matter where did the ball go or if the batsman ran a single or a couple.

This is a confusing rule for many and certainly, four valuable runs were denied to the team and it could be highlighted more if a team wins or loses by four runs in future or like it happened with the boundary count rule, in a World Cup final.