Former India player Harbhajan Singh slammed the International Cricket Council for awarding five penalty runs to India in their ICC T20 World Cup 2024 match against the United States of America. The incident happened before the start of the 16th over of India’s run chase. Paul Reiffel, the on-field umpire, was seen speaking to the USA’s stand-in skipper, Aaron Jones. He informed Jones that his team couldn’t complete three overs on time, and according to the rule, five runs were added to the total of the batting side.
The Men in Blue were 76/3 in 15 overs, and the score became 81 without a ball being bowled in a new over. A team is given one minute between the overs, and if more time is consumed on a few occasions, the fielding side is sanctioned in the form of a five-run penalty.
Meanwhile, Bhajji was miffed with the ICC for complicating things. He felt that such rules shouldn’t exist and the game should be kept simple.
“I don’t understand why five runs were awarded to Team India. This went in their favor today, but it could go against them in a future game. The ICC is introducing new rules every now and then, and no one is even aware of them. There are other ways to control the flow of the game. Earlier, the over rate was calculated on the basis of the allotted time for one innings but now you have kept the time limit for one over. I don’t get it,” Harbhajan Singh said.
He then lambasted the ICC again for the controversial dead ball rule that resulted in Bangladesh’s defeat against South Africa. Mahmudullah was wrapped up on the pads by the South African bowler, and the umpire gave him out. The ball went for a four, but it was not counted as the ball became dead the moment umpire raised his finger.
The batter took a DRS, and the on-field official was proved wrong, and his decision was overturned. Despite the official’s mistake, Bangladesh were robbed of four important runs. In the end, the margin of defeat was four runs.
“ICC should also talk about the dead ball rule. For me, Bangladesh should have got four runs but the rule didn’t;t allow that. The decision-makers should also look into that as Bangladesh would have won the contest and not South Africa had the former got four runs,” he added.