Batsmen giving the umpires a piece of their mind on a wrong decision is quite a common sight in cricket. The batsmen do not take it kindly when the umpires made even the smallest of mistakes on the field, and so one can only imagine how strong the players would react when the on-field official adjudges a batsman out when the ball evades his bat by a big margin.
However, in one of the most bizarre dismissals one can ever see, a batsman did not even look at the umpire when he was wrongly given out. The dismissal was so bizarre that even India’s veteran batsman Yuvraj Singh could not stop himself from sharing a clip of the same on his Instagram account. The incident had happened way back in 2007 in an MCC University cricket match between Surrey and Leeds-Bradford UCCE.
Here is the clip posted by World Cup-winner:
Looking at the clip, one can say that the incident raises a lot of questions. From the umpire raising his finger without the fielders even appealing the batsman walking away without showing any dissent, it raised a lot of eyebrows.
Not surprisingly, some accused the umpire of ‘cheating’, and some think that the batsman simply walked away to avoid any punishment for breaking the laws. Well, before you all speculate any other reason for that bizarre incident, there is another explanation which will more or less end any suspicion regarding any foul play.
As per reports, the batsman Tom Merilaht, while batting against Surrey, had hit his stumps on a delivery, but not before the umpire had called ‘over’, which signalled the ball is dead. So, to make amends, the on-field officials and both the teams mutually decided that the batsman would be given out on the very next delivery he faces. According to the decision, the umpire raised his finger on the next delivery faced by Merilaht, and it possibly explains why the batsman walked away without showing any disagreement.
According to the official scorecard, the right-handed batsman was given caught behind off Mohammad Akram. The umpire, in this case, was Ian Gould, now a member of ICC’s Elite Panel of umpires.
Video of the day: