This is an archive article published on January 16, 2023

‘I wish ki hamare time mein bhi aise tohfe milte’: Virender Sehwag on Sheldon Cottrell’s delivery in ILT20

Despite the best effort by the batter to hit the ball to the boundary by reaching outside the pitch the ball was given no ball and deemed dead by the umpire.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore runs off the pitch to hit a ball of Sheldon Cottrell. (Twitter/Screengrab)

3 min readJan 16, 2023 03:18 PM IST First published on: Jan 16, 2023 at 03:08 PM IST

English cricketer Tom Kohler-Cadmore hits a wayward ball from West Indian pacer Sheldon Cottrell which slips out of his hand and loops in the air outside the pitch in a game between Desert Vipers and Sharjah Warriors in the ILT20 in Dubai.

While doing Hindi commentary, former India batsman Virender Sehwag said, “Aaj kal tohfe aise mil rahe hein jinka koi hisab nahi. I wish ki hamare time mein bhi tohfe aise milte” (These days gifts offered are countless I wish in our times we could have had these gifts).

.@virendersehwag paaji, aise #Bawaal 🎁s toh hume bhi chahiye! 😉

TKC accepts Cottrell’s gift with open arms! #DVvSW #CricketOnZee #BawaalMachneWalaHai #HarBallBawaal #DPWorldILT20 @tomkohlerreal pic.twitter.com/mLZCS5kwWH

— Zee Cricket (@ilt20onzee) January 15, 2023

However, despite the best effort by the batter to hit the ball to the boundary by reaching outside the pitch the ball was given no ball and deemed dead by the umpire.

MCC law 21.8, suggests that if the ball delivered “is so far from the pitch that the striker would need to leave the pitch to attempt to play the ball, without having previously touched the bat or person of the striker, the umpire shall call and signal No ball and immediately call and signal Dead ball.”

Hence the runs would have been only counted if the batter would have stayed on the pitch and hit the ball.

However, the ball did not make any difference in the grand scheme of things as Cottrell’s Desert Vipers won the game comfortably. Sharjah Warriors could only manage 145-5 on the board in the first innings with cameos from Afghanisnats’ Mohammad Nabi 34(23)* and England’s Joe Denly 36(33)*. Tymall Mills was the pick of the bowlers with his 1-11(3). Cottrell despite the wayward delivery ended up with 1-32(4).

Desert Vipers in the second innings cruised in the chase. They won by seven wickets with 20 balls to spare. England’s T20 specialist Alex Hales was judged Man of the Match for his unbeaten 83(52) which included nine boundaries and three mammoth sixes. Sam Billings chipped in with a handy 49(38) supporting Hales.