India’s fast bowler Mohammed Shami surprised everyone on the field during the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by bowling a seemingly wide ball that was declared a no-ball by the on-field umpire. This caused disbelief among the players, including Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, who was seen expressing their surprise.
The ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 sees India taking on Australia in the second Test at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. After a dominating victory in the first Test in Nagpur, the hosts are leading the Test series by 1-0 over Australia.
Shami, who has been in sublime form, continued his impressive run with the ball and took four wickets, putting the hosts in command yet again in the second Test. However, during his bowling spell, a surprising incident occurred that left everyone on the field bewildered.
Shami came on to bowl the third over of the match and as he started his run-up to bowl a delivery to Aussie opener David Warner, the ball slipped from his hands and ended up pitching outside the wide mark. This bizarre delivery left Kohli and Pujara completely puzzled. The on-field umpire, Nitin Menon, declared the delivery a no-ball, despite appearing to be a wide ball to the naked eye. The reason for this decision was explained later.
According to Article 21.13 of the ICC in relation to the no-ball rule, if the ball travels completely or partially off the pitch after crossing the batsman, the ball will be termed as an illegal delivery. That’s exactly what had happened with Shami’s delivery, according to Menon.
In the match, Australia won the toss and chose to bat first. They started confidently with the bat against the Indian bowlers, but soon the hosts made inroads. The teams went for lunch with Australia’s first innings score reading 94/3 in 25 overs. After Handscomb bailed Australia out of a sudden collapse triggered by Ashwin, they were bowled out for 263. In response, Team India started cautiously with all wickets remaining intact, scoring 21 runs by stumps on Day 1.
