Australia legend on the no-ball controversy during India vs Pakistan

Babar Azam complains to the umpire (Source: AP)

India picked up a narrow win over Pakistan in their T20 World Cup 2022 opener but the game was marred with a no-ball controversy. 

The Men in Blue were handed a free-hit towards the end of the game after Mohammad Nawaz had bowled a no-ball. In the resulting free-hit, Virat Kohli was bowled but India took advantage of the ball deflecting off the stumps and took three runs. 

While the Pakistan captain Babar Azam complained to the umpires, demanding the ball to be declared dead after hitting the stumps, India were allowed to keep the three valuable runs during a crucial stage of the game in accordance with the ICC regulations. 

Former Australia captain Mark Taylor has now reflected on the controversy and has demanded a change of rules from ICC. Taylor believes that India were handed an unfair advantage because of the rules and the ball should have been declared dead once it hit the stumps. 

Pakistan will feel hard done by the situation as well. Understandably, such an incident would have left India disappointed too. 

As quoted by Hindustan Times, Taylor said:

"I think if the ball hits the stumps you're actually gaining an unfair advantage. Firstly, in the situation like we saw on Sunday night, the ball can deflect anywhere, and secondly, if the fielding team is trying to run the batter out, the bails are already on the ground and you've got to remove the stump, so that's harder as well.

"I think if the batter is bowled or caught off the free hit, you're not out but the ball should then be dead, that would be fair and reasonable. You've got the advantage of not being out off a free hit, but you shouldn't benefit a second time from what would normally be considered a dismissal."

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