Former BCCI selector Saba Karim said that India fast bowler Akash Deep ‘cheated’ England batter Joe Root to dismiss him during the second Test encounter. The dismissal sparked a massive controversy after commentators and certain fans were of the opinion that his backfoot was touching the return crease. Former England cricketer Alison Mitchell, while doing commentary on BBC TMS, said: “The delivery from Akash Deep – which we said was wide off the crease – his foot on the back crease is out. Looks like by about two inches. Maybe a little bit more. But comfortably. So his back foot, which needs to land within the line, just taps about two inches over the line. Not picked up!”
However, Saba Karim decided to discuss the technical aspect of the dismissal as he said that when a delivery is bowled from the wide of the crease, the batter expects it to angle in. However, the ball from Akash Deep strengthened a bit and that ended up ‘cheating’ Root.
“Akash Deep was talking about feeling cheated by the wicket as it was like an Indian wicket, but here he cheated Joe Root. When you are angling the ball in from wide of the crease, the batter is forced to think that the ball will come in only from that angle,” he said on Sony Sports.
“If the ball straightens after pitching, what can the batter do? If you bowl such a ball to a great batter, it was definitely an unplayable delivery. Not only Joe Root, but 99.9 percent of the batters would have played like that towards the onside. Joe Root also tried that, and Akash Deep literally opened up Joe Root,” Saba observed.
What MCC Law 21.5.1 Says:
“For a delivery to be fair in respect of the feet, in the delivery stride (21.5.1) the bowler’s back foot must land within and not touch the return crease appertaining to his/her stated mode of delivery. (21.5.2) the bowler’s front foot must land with some part of the foot, whether grounded or raised – on the same side of the imaginary line joining the two middle stumps as the return crease described in 21.5.1, and – behind the popping crease.”