ICC wasted 40 minutes of cricket fans around the world: Kapil Dev

ICC on Sunday drew sharp flak from all quarters after officials according to ‘ICC Rules’ went with a bizarre decision to stop the match for lunch when India were just 2 runs shy from victory against South Africa in the second One Day International.

New Delhi: ICC on Sunday drew sharp flak from all quarters after officials according to ‘ICC Rules’ went with a bizarre decision to stop the match for lunch when India were just 2 runs shy from victory against South Africa in the second One Day International.

The ODI between India and South Africa which was held in Centurion brought the ICC rule under scanner as legends of the game, cricket pundits and even on-air commentators criticized the move by match officials.

Chasing a paltry total of 119, India were 117 for one in 18 overs when the umpires decided to go for lunch as per ICC rules.

Speaking exclusively to Wah Cricket, former India captain Kapil Dev said “I was shocked with the decision. This should not have happened. Cricket is a game that brings people together. Fans should be respected. It was just a waste of time. All the rules and regulations in the game are made on the base of common sense. No law is above common sense. Match should not have stopped.”

Kapil particularly seemed disappointed with the match referee as according to him Andy Pycroft could have averted the senseless decision.

“More than the on-field umpires it was the responsibility of the match referee. Umpires are restricted when it comes to making such decisions but the match referee controls the entire match. 40 minutes of cricket fans around the world got wasted which is not acceptable at all. Due to these kind of decisions you lose fans. Such rules should be struck out of cricketing books. There has to be common sense,” fuming Kapil added.

Former Chief Selector Sandeep Patil added that the decision reminded him of gully cricket. “ICC is at fault and should reconsider the rule. I am hopeful that after today’s incident ICC will definitely come up with a change.”

Match summary: India 119 for 1 (Dhawan 51*) beat South Africa 118 (Chahal 5-22, Kuldeep 3-20) by nine wickets. India lead 6-match ODI series 2-0.