Barbados (West Indies): England skipper Jos Buttler gave his take on Indian umpire Nitin Menon's decision for wicketkeeper-batter Matthew Wade's non-dead ball controversy that happened during the clash between defending champions England and 2021 champions Australia of the T20 World Cup 2024 on Saturday.
The incident happened in the 18th over of Australia's innings when Wade was taking the strike and getting ready to face the third ball of Adil Rashid's last over. England's leg-spinner completed his runup and bowled the classical leg-spin delivery and Wade tried to pull out his shot as wasn't ready to face the ball. But he ended up putting the bat in line with the ball and defended it. The delivery was deemed to be a dead ball instead of a dot, but the umpire thought otherwise and called it a legal delivery which led to an animated left-hand batter arguing with the umpire.
Buttler witnessed the entire non-dead ball incident from behind the stumps. However, the English skipper wasn't sure if the Australian pulled away and felt that the umpire decided to give it a dot ball because Wade played the delivery.
"I wasn't quite sure. I think he pulled away and then played it, So I think the umpire was like, well, you sort of played it, but he said he pulled away. And to be honest, I was thinking about many other things at that point. So yeah, whether I should have said, I don't know if he pulled away and let's just carry on. But the umpire seemed to be like, well, because he played it - it's a dot ball," wicketkeeper Buttler said in the post-match press conference.
On the other hand, Adam Zampa, who was watching the game from the dugout, felt that the left-handed batter backed away and played the shot, believing it would be considered as letting the ball hit his leg.
"I believe that he just thought that, I actually don't know, but he backed away, and he played that shot, and I think he felt like it was basically the same as letting it hit him in the leg, kind of a dead ball, but yeah, it doesn't take much to fire Wade up," Zampa added.
Apart from Wade's heated moment, two of the oldest cricket rivals produced an exhilarating performance with the bat. Australia opening pair Travis Head and David Warner gave a brisk start to their side, posting 70-run on the board in just five overs, well supported by the middle order batters. Despite any batter not scoring a half-century, Australia crossed the elusive 200-run mark and became the first team to do so. Notably, 201/7 is Australia's biggest total in the history of the competition. Earlier, their highest team total was 197/7 against the same team in 2010.
In reply, England's opening duo Jos Buttler and Phil Salt began the chase in a similar fashion amassing 73 runs in seven overs. However, the middle order failed to provide the ideal support. Australia managed to restrict their arch-rival on 165/6 and clinch a thumping 36-run win.
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