Some rules in cricket definitely needs a serious look in, says Rohit Sharma after a thrilling World Cup final

England won the 2019 World Cup after the most dramatic One Day International ever at Lord’s. But New Zealand didn’t lose the game. The absurd rules forced them to come second on the day when both the teams gave it all for that one elusive trophy and didn’t deserve to lose. The world is sympathising for the Kiwis after the heartbreak at the home of cricket and even Rohit Sharma isn’t behind.

The final was filled with a number of dramatic moments and despite England winning on the boundary count, the Stokes-deflected overthrow going for four runs has raised many eyebrows. In the last over of the match when England needed 9 runs off three deliveries, Stokes smashed the ball to deep mid-wicket and he had to go for two runs to be on strike.

But drama unfolded when he returned for the second run. Martin Guptill threw the ball to the batsman’s end and at the same time, Stokes put in a dive only for the ball to hit his bat and get deflected. Moreover, it went for four and the umpires had to award England six runs (two runs + four overthrow) abiding by the rules. It was seriously unfortunate and rather, that moment decided the match in the end.

Trent Boult wasn’t making it easy for Stokes in the last over and could’ve defended seven runs off the last two balls and the match tied in the end.

Boundary count rule under the scanner

It didn’t end here. More drama was yet to unfold. England batted first according to the rules and scored 15 runs courtesy of Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes. Surely, they were winning this one finally. But New Zealand weren’t giving up anytime soon. They picked James Neesham and Martin Guptill to do the job and the duo ran and batted out of their skin in the middle.

Jofra Archer was the man with the ball in hand and even he succumbed under pressure. Neesham slammed him for a six in the over and brought the equation to 3 runs off two balls. But the Caribbean born bowler kept his nerves to concede only two runs and by the virtue of more boundaries hit, England won the World Cup.

In a game where 18 wickets fell and only 482 runs were scored, the boundary count was preferred. Moreover, New Zealand bowled 12 wides opposed to England who delivered 17 of those with the ball. Cricket’s rule book has come under the scanner more than ever after this match and Rohit Sharma has urged the ICC indirectly to consider change those.

He took to Twitter on Monday to express himself and clearly, wasn’t impressed how the World Cup winner was decided in the end. Agreed, there has to be only one winner in the sport. But the parameters to determine the winner should definitely change now and India’s vice-captain will be feeling the same.

Here’s his tweet: