IPL 2020: Luck favours Rahul Tewatia as ball hits the stump but bails didn't dislodge in RR vs SRH game

Rahul Tewatia played a blinder of a knock against Sunrisers Hydrabad (SRH) to help the Rajasthan Royals (RR) chase 159 out of nowhere. His unbeaten 45-run innings, along with Riyan Parag’s 42*, led to RR recovering from a precarious position of 78/5 to winning the game with one ball to spare. However, luck favoured the duo as well with Parag being dropped in the 16th over.

Tewatia survived hilariously as well and it turned out to be talking point during and after the match. The incident took place in the 18th over of the innings when Rashid Khan was bowling. He had already conceded 13 runs in the over and delivered a superb fifth ball. Tewatia tried to cut the ball only to under-edge it. The ball hit Jonny Bairstow’s pads and richocheted on to the stumps.

At the same time, Rahul Tewatia wandered out of the crease as he didn’t know where the ball was. However, despite the ball hitting the stumps, the zing bails lit up only to not fall. The batsman was clearly out of the crease and would’ve been out if the bails had dislodged. It ended up to be the crucial moment in the match as the same man turned the game on its head winning the Man of the Match award for his efforts.

Here’s the video:

pic.twitter.com/x3VMSdcPmk

— faceplatter49 (@faceplatter49) October 11, 2020

The debate continues

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra was not happy with the decision as according to him, if the zing bails light up, the stumps should be considered broken and the batsman should be given out. However, according to the rules, the law 29.1.1 states “The wicket is put down if a bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps, or a stump is struck out of the ground.”

The zing bails were also the point of discussion during the last IPL season when they didn’t fall despite the ball hitting it with some force. It remains to be a debating point and there could be more calls for the ICC to consider changing this rule as well considering the zing bails are being used nowadays to make decision making easy.