Can a run out be more freakish than Sreevats Goswami's on the first
day of the Ranji match here? The Bengal batsman's dismissal triggered
heated discussions that resonated through the KSCA stadium. It must have
been the most perplexing dismissal of the left-hander's career.
Goswami,
who had turned out for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL a few
seasons ago, walked in to bat when the medium-pacers were getting the
ball to dart around and decided to take his stance outside the batting
crease.
He would often step out to the medium-pacers to throw them off the
length that helped them swing the ball.
Skipper
Vinay Kumar countered it by deploying a silly mid-off, hoping that it
would discourage the batsman from stepping out. Goswami was undeterred,
and as he ventured out one more time, Vinay on his follow-through
swooped on the ball and threw it towards the stumps. Goswami's bat was
grounded in the crease, but the ball struck the bottom of the bat,
forced it off the ground and crashed into the stumps, with Goswami's bat
in the air.
On an appeal from Karnataka, the third
umpire declared Goswami run out, for there was no part of his body or
bat grounded in the crease when the stumps were knocked down. Heated
discussion around the fairness of the decision raged through the
afternoon. While some believed that the appeal should have been
withdrawn, others felt that the umpires went by the law and declared the
batsman out.
To those who go by the spirit of the
game, it must be pointed out that if the ball which ricocheted off the
bat had sped to the boundary instead of crashing into the stumps, the
batsman would have gleefully taken the four overthrows.Hence, they
shouldn't get selective, however bizarre the run out might seem.
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