How A Rule Change Meant To Help Bowlers Might Have Helped Virat Kohli Complete Ton Against Bangladesh

World Cup 2023: A ball fired down the leg side by Nasum Ahmed was not called a wide with India needing two to win and Kohli batting on 97*.

Even though Virat Kohli stole the limelight with his 48th ODI hundred in Pune, helping India bring up their fourth successive win this World Cup 2023, a decision made by umpire Richard Kettleborough became the talking point. The on-fied umpire decided to not signal a wide even the ball had drifted down the leg side, allowing Kohli an opportunity to still get to a hundred with runs off his bat. India needed two to win and Kohli was on 97 when the 42nd over of India's run-chase started.

However, the first ball of the over went down the leg side with several fans and pundits it would be signalled a wide and the equation would be down to to one needed to win and Kohli still needing three. However, the umpire gave the decision in favour of the bowler. While many assumed that it was an error on part of the umpire, a rule change could also be behind the decision taken by Kettleborough, one of the finest in the business.



Before the law was changed, clause 22.1.1 in the MCC Laws of Cricket, deals with the wide ball rule said: "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."

MCC, however, changed this law in 2022. "In the modern game, batters are, more than ever, moving laterally around the crease before the ball is bowled,” an official statement from the MCC read.

"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. Therefore, Law 22.1 has been amended so that a Wide will apply to where the batter is standing, where the striker has stood at any point since the bowler began their run up, and which would also have passed wide of the striker in a normal batting position," it added.

Thus, the change in law could have prompted the umpire to make the call. Nevertheless, even if it would have been a wide, Kohli's six to finish off the match would have still allowed him to get to a hundred.