Edited By: Vivek Ganapathy
Last Updated: January 21, 2023, 08:06 AM IST
A ball boy stepped onto the field of play and handed the ball to Sabir Ali, who had cut out the ball before it had touched the ropes (Twitter)
A ball boy stepped onto the field of play and handed the ball to Sabir Ali, who had cut out the ball before it had touched the ropes
Desert Vipers registered a 7-wicket win over the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in their ILT20 encounter at the Dubai International Stadium in UAE Jan 18.
What stood out in the game was the untimely interference of a ball boy, who stepped onto the field of play before the ball had touched the boundary line. In-fact, the ball was cut out before hitting the ropes by a charged piece of fielding by Sabir Ali of Abu Dhabi Knight Riders.
In the 15th over of the game, bowled by West Indies stalwart Sunil Naraine, Sherfane Rutherford, representing the Vipers, whacked the delivery towards the boundary.
But, Ali chased the ball down the field and managed to cut the boundary as he stopped the ball from reaching the ropes before he tumbled beyond the boundary line himself.
And, bizarrely enough, before Ali could get back to his feet and enter the field of play once again, the ball boy stood beyond the boundary line jumped past the ropes onto the field, picked up the ball and handed it back to the returning Ali.
Meanwhile, the Vipers batsmen at the crease had run three runs before the ball came back to the wicketkeeper.
The umpire did not overturn his decision as he stuck with his original call and awarded the batting team 3 runs off the ball in accordance with the laws of the game.
The Desert Vipers ended up triumphant as they wrapped up the match when they successfully chased down the target set by ADKR with 7 wickets and 26 deliveries to spare.
Englishman Alex Hales top scored for the Vipers as he ended up with 64 runs off 47 deliveries, while Sam Billings was unbeaten on 35 off 29.
Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga was awarded the man of the match award for his performance with the ball as he finished the game with figures of 3 wickets for 18 runs in his four overs.
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