In the ICC ODI World Cup today, it is Pakistan who is playing against the Netherlands at Hyderabad.
Currently, the Men in Green have the upper hand in the competition as they are not allowing the Dutch to score any boundaries.
However, during the first innings of the game, there were two umpiring errors made by the on-field umpires.
The first one unfolded during the 14th over. As it happened, the on-field umpires miscounted the number of balls bowled.
Actually, only five balls had been bowled but the over was counted fully as completed with six deliveries.
After eight overs, another mishap occurred in which the Netherlands placed an extra fielder outside the circle.
But, it was quickly spotted by the Pakistani batters and they alerted the umpires after which it was reverted and given a no-ball.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands have come to play the ODI World Cup after nearly a decade and they were quite dominant at the start of today’s game.
Winning the toss, they opted to field first and quickly decimated Pakistan to 38/3 inside the first Powerplay.
However, Saud Shakeel and Mohammed Rizwan quickly steadied the ship and increased Pakistan’s score to 158/3 by the 28th over.
In the process, both the batters also got their half-centuries which was a welcome sight for the Men in Green.
What does the ICC lawbook say about such mishaps in the game?
For the first incident that occurred during the 14th over, the on-field umpires miscounted the balls and didn’t ask the TV umpire to interfere in the matter.
Incidentally, the TV umpire also kept mum on the situation and felt that he mustn’t intervene in the issue.
According to Law 17.5,
If the umpire miscounts the number of valid balls, the over as counted by the umpire shall stand.
Meanwhile, this isn’t the first instance when the number of valid balls was miscounted by the on-field umpires.
In February this year, during the India-Pakistan Women’s T20 World Cup match, the umpires counted a seven-ball over where the last ball was hit for a boundary.
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