In the ongoing International League T20, a rare incident happened. Ball Boy enters the ground to pick up the ball after Knight Riders’ fielder makes a save.
The ball boy in the game between Abu Dhabi Knight Riders and Desert Vipers Knight riders caught everyone’s attention. The Knight Riders fielder Sabir Ali was chasing a ball toward the boundary struck by Sherfane Rutherford.
The ball was racing toward the boundary but then Sabir Ali did excellent work to stop the ball from touching the fence. He committed himself fully to saving the ball but the ball boy thought otherwise. The Ball boy standing outside the fence of fine leg thought that the player has already touched the fence while saving the boundary.
Ball Boy enters the ground to pick up the ball
The ball boy came inside the ground and picked up the ball and gave it to Sabir Ali thinking that it was a four. Sabir Ali was very much convinced that he saved the ball from touching the boundary and so he immediately threw the ball to the keeper’s end.
The ball kid was ready to take his chance 🤣
This lad will have some story to tell at school tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/TmWcjyQGdY
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) January 18, 2023
During the incident, both batters Sam Billings and Rutherford ran three runs. Umpire in the end didn’t call it as a dead ball played on the game.
Umpires termed it as a legal boundary save
The two standing umpires didn’t call it a dead ball even after the intervention by the ball boy. According to the laws of MCC, umpires have the authority to call it a dead ball if any external object, Person, or animal interrupts the game.
In addition to the laws “A person, animal or object coming onto, or coming over the field of play while the ball is in play shall not be regarded as a boundary unless the umpires determine otherwise at the time that contact between the ball and such a person.”
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In this case, the umpires didn’t award the Vipers four runs nor did they call it off as a dead ball because they thought that Ball boy’s interruption didn’t disadvantage the Vipers by any means. Sabir Ali was already in the process to throw down the ball if the ball boy didn’t pick up the ball.
