Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra on Monday weighed in on the no-ball controversy regarding Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Virat Kohli’s dismissal during the game vs Kolkata Knight Riders. Kohli was dismissed by Harshit Rana from a full toss delivery.
Kohli’s controversial dismissal
With the team needing 223 runs to win, former captain and star batter Virat Kohli of the RCB was declared out on the opening ball of the third over after being caught off guard by a full toss from Harshit Rana and edging an easy return catch.
Since Virat Kohli believed the ball to be waist-high full-toss and therefore a no-ball, he went for the review. However, the slower ball was shown to have dipped as it got to Kohli, and more crucially, the side angles revealed that he was not inside the crease.
Ball-tracking revealed that if Kohli had been inside the batting crease in his regular batting stance, the ball would have been below the waist. An enraged Virat began to leave the field, shaking his head, and returned to exchange a number of heated words with the umpires.
Chopra supports decision
The dismissal led to a lot of discussions with many experts offering their takes. Aakash Chopra took to social media to express his view. The former batter held that Virat was out.
“People complaining about the existing Law of height of the ball measured at the popping crease—please consider this—what if the batter decides to walk towards the bowler as the bowler is running in…and is 10 feet or more outside the popping crease at the time of release. Should be bowler be obliged to tinker is length so much? Or in that case, the bowler should also be allowed to forget about the crease and bowl a big no-ball?? Where does it stop?? It’s easier to get carried away and appease a particular fan-base but it’s not that difficult to think it through too. Choose wisely,” Aakash Chopra said.
