There was a fair bit of head-scratching in Hangzhou on Friday when Dasun Shanaka appeared to be both caught behind and run out in the same delivery, yet somehow walked away unscathed. India still won the Super Over – Suryakumar Yadav punched the first ball through cover to chase three – but the incident dominated the chat afterwards.
Here’s what happened, stripped back. Fourth ball of Sri Lanka’s Super-Over reply: Arshdeep Singh nailed a full, straight yorker. Shanaka swung, missed, and India went up for a caught-behind shout. While the appeal was hanging in the air, Sanju Samson under-armed a direct hit with Shanaka well short. Square-leg umpire Joel Wilson eventually raised the finger, signalling caught behind. Shanaka referred, the TV umpire checked, spotted no spike on UltraEdge and overturned the dismissal. Because the initial decision – the caught-behind – had rendered the ball dead, the run-out could not stand either. Chaos, then clarity.
The relevant clause is lodged deep in MCC Law 20.1: once an umpire decides a batter is out, the ball is dead “from the instant of the incident causing the dismissal”. In plain English: as soon as Wilson thought Shanaka had edged it, the play was over; everything thereafter – including Samson’s throw – is treated as happening after the ball was dead.
Sri Lanka coach Sanath Jayasuriya fronted the explanation. “According to the rules, if you appeal for the catch, then Dasun could go up to the third umpire,” he said. “It was the first decision that counts always, not the second. So he went for the referral, and it was not out. That’s what happened. But overall, I think there are a few grey areas [in terms of the rules at large] that they [officials] have to finetune a bit.”
India’s players looked puzzled for a moment – Suryakumar had a brief word with the on-field officials – but quickly reset. Arshdeep needed one more ball to send Shanaka slicing to deep third, leaving Sri Lanka three for two in five deliveries. The chase, mercifully, was straightforward.
It was a rare double dismissal that never was, a reminder that even in the white-ball era the dead-ball law can trump common sense. For umpires, players and fans alike, it’s another bookmark in the rulebook; for India, it was a minor footnote on the way to an unbeaten place in Sunday’s final.
