T20 World Cup 2024

‘The laws of cricket are far from perfect’ – Jos Buttler gives strong statement on the laws after Virat Kohli free-hit controversy

India and Pakistan played a thrilling encounter at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where India pulled off a heist against Pakistan to get home by four wickets. India clinched a jaw-dropping encounter, but the taking point was a delivery bowled by Mohammad Nawaz in the last over.

Virat Kohli was bowled off by Nawaz off a free-hit delivery, but India managed to sneak three runs off it in the end and get to the right side of the result. When Kohli was bowled, people all over instantly felt that it should be declared a dead ball.

But Kohli knew that was not the case, and ran three. The runs were duly given to him in the end. The ball deflected off the stumps and went towards the boundary which allowed Kohli and Dinesh Karthik to pick up three.

Kohli was awarded three as on a free hit, a player cannot be bowled, and so, the ball is still in play, which means whatever runs are scored off that ball will be awarded to the batting side.

Hope the grey areas in the laws don’t affect England-  Jos Buttler

Speaking on the same, Jos Buttler, the England skipper, gave his two cents about the incident. Here is what he had to say, “It’s a tough one to work out. There’s a lot of laws of cricket which are quite unique. It’s far from perfect. But then I can see lots of other flipsides because say the third umpire calls the front foot no-ball, you might get caught and cross for a run and then you get called back and you actually go back on strike and it’s just a dead ball. Whereas if the umpire had called no-ball on the field you wouldn’t have been out, and you would have scored an extra run. That is something else that is not quite ideal.”

Buttler was part of the England side that won the 2019 World Cup final based on boundary count because the scores were tied. He added: “I don’t think the review system is perfect. Say you need one to win in the World Cup final, you get given out lbw and you cross and complete a run and then you review it, you’re not out and it’s just a dot-ball. I don’t think that’s ideal either.

“Whether it’s a dead ball after a free hit; if you hit it, get caught and run two that’s fine but if it’s off the stumps if someone should be able to run or not, I don’t know. Whether all of those things can be cleaned up a little bit would be beneficial. Where that ball goes off the stumps, India managed to score three runs off that ball which is a huge swing in the match. Hopefully, it doesn’t affect us.”