So, Virat Kohli was inching close to his 48th ODI hundred, but the problem was India did not need too many runs to win. Yet, there was a chance Kohli gets to a hundred with a big hit and that is when Nusum Ahmed bowled a delivery that seemed to be a wide as it was collected down the leg side.
To everybody’s surprise umpire Richard Kettleborough did not signal it as wide. While there was relief in the Indian dressing-room as Kohli still had a chance to get to a hundred, few fans were puzzled why it was not called a wide. It was not called a wide because of the new wide-ball rule introduced by the ICC. Earlier, the clause 22.1.1 in the MCC Laws of Cricket, which was about how to judge a wide, stated: “If the bowler bowls a ball, not being a No ball, the umpire shall adjudge it a Wide if, according to the definition in 22.1.2, the ball passes wide of where the striker is standing and which also would have passed wide of the striker standing in a normal guard position.” However, in Match 2022, MCC had made few changes in the Law 22.1. “In the modern game, batters are, more than ever, moving laterally around the crease before the ball is bowled,” MCC said in a statement. “It was felt unfair that a delivery might be called ‘Wide’ if it passes where the batter had stood as the bowler entered his/her delivery stride.” India won the match by seven wickets and kept their winning streak going. Now the team takes on New Zealand on Sunday in what is being touted as the ‘Final before the Final’.
