In that moment when the zing bails light up, but don’t get dislodged for the umpire to raise a finger, it comes as heartbreak for the bowler and massive relief for the batsman at the close shave.
Chris Lynn was the lucky batsman on Sunday, 7 April, when on 13 for Kolkata Knight Riders, in their Indian Premier League match against Rajasthan Royals, he inside-edged Dhawan Kulkarni’s delivery onto the top of the leg stump. The bail lit up, but stayed in place, and the ball raced away to the fine-leg fence for four.
Lynn went on to make 50 off 32 balls to play a key role in his side’s eight-wicket win chasing 140. “I might go the casino tonight!,” he joked after the match. “I might ride my luck!
“I inside-edged it, and then I heard a second noise. I thought [the wicket-keeper] might catch it or the bails might come off, but I got lucky.”
Lynn isn’t the first batsman to enjoy a slice of fortune this IPL. MS Dhoni got another life on 0 and went on to make 75* while Joffra Archer was left to rue what might have been. Dhoni was then on the receiving end when his throw at the stumps to catch KL Rahul short didn’t displace the bails.
It has meant there’s some discussion now on how to rule such deliveries. Law 29.1.1 is, of course, very clear on what constitutes a dismissal. It says, “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.”
Lynn said he saw the umpire signal byes before he went up to him and informed him about the inside edge. Ajinkya Rahane, the opposing captain, meanwhile suggested that the bowlers be given some credit.
“The rules are what they are, but I told the umpire, at least don’t declare it a boundary,” he said at the post-match press conference. “It’s already so tough for the bowlers in T20, and in such a situation, a ball can maybe be declared a dead ball,” he suggested. “That was my conversation with the umpires.”
