Cricket popularly known as the 'Gentleman's Game' has evolved over a period of time with newer formats coming to the fore. With Test matches being considered the first-most and purist form the game, the game changed dynamically with the limited overs and T20 format being introduced at a later stage and instantly catching the admiration of the audience.

Along with evolution of the sport for making the game more widespread and likeable among fans and viewers, ICC the governing and regulatory body brought about constant changes in its rules and regulations to incorporate

In general parlance, cricket fans think that the game has a set of dismissals like clean bowled, leg before wicket, caught behind wicket, stumped and even hit-wicket. However, there are set of bizarre rules due to which a batsman can get dismissed in the sport.

There are a lot of things that players have to observe on the field which we seldom know about. Let’s take a look at a few of these strange rules of the game.

Mankading Rule

Cricket’s most controversial rule, it’s named after Indian bowler Vinoo Mankad. When bowling a delivery, if the bowler sees that the non-striker batsman has left the crease, he can stop and hit the bails on the non-striker end. As the non-striker is out of the crease, this technically becomes a run-out!

3 Minute Rule

Batsmen are given 180 seconds i.e. 3 minutes to appear on the pitch and failure to do so gets them declared ‘retired hurt’ by the umpire. Of course, some levy is given in extreme cases like a hat-trick spell but, batsmen still stick to the time provided.

Object-Hitting Rule

If the ball hits a spidercam or a roof of a stadium, it’s declared as a dead ball even if it was a sure shot catch. In Australia’s Etihad Stadium, if the ball hits the indoor roof of the stadium and is caught by a fielder, it is considered not out.

Handling The Ball

The batsman isn’t allowed to touch the ball to stop it from hitting the wicket with either his arms, while batting or his bat while running. If he tries obstructing the ball, it's declared as an out. Tymal Mills of Royal Challengers Bengaluru made quite a few batsmen stop the ball with their hands thanks to his deadly paces!

Call Back

If the umpire has declared a batsman to be out, the captain of the fielding team can ask the umpire to withdraw it. This is done in extreme cases like a run-out that happened because of collision between batsman and fielder or other such reasons where the batsman got out unfairly.

The Penalty Rule

If the wicketkeeper places his helmet on the ground and the ball touches it after being hit by a batsman, the umpire gives five penalty runs to the batting side. This is done to ensure that a boundary doesn’t get obstructed by the helmet.

The Necessary Appeal Rule

Regardless of how obvious it is that a wicket has been taken, the bowler/fielding team should turn to the umpire and appeal for a wicket. Unless the fielding team appeals, the umpire won’t raise his finger to declare out