'Another grey area in the rule book'- Bad light loophole annoys AB de Villiers after Pak vs NZ Test ends in a draw

Pakistan has been facing a lot of flak for their inability to bring Test matches to a conclusion. Both of the matches between Pakistan and New Zealand were a draw as batters prevailed over bowlers.

The second Test in particular frustrated all as the end came to a very exciting point where the Kiwis needed one wicket to win whereas Pakistan needed 15 runs off 18 balls. The two umpires however deemed the light to be bad and prematurely forced the match to end taking away a nail-biting end from all cricket fans.

Like many fans South Africa legend AB de Villiers has also been annoyed at the rule and has also spoken of a loophole that he found.

“Another little grey area in the rule book, imo. If the fielding team is told to bowl spin because of bad light and they take the option, they should be forced to finish the overs with spin until the Umps call it off, cause they can bring seam on at any time to finish the match, “ said the former cricketer.

“If the batting team manages to get it down to 5 or so runs required, the fielding team can just opt to bring on a seamer. Not fair, in my opinion,” concluded AB de Villiers.

One team should have won and one team should have lost- O'Keeffe

Former Australian cricketer Kerry O’Keeffe was also not in favour of the outcome.

“We need results. The juggernaut of T20 and the Indian T20 League, it’s getting bigger, it’s not getting smaller. They played five days – it was theatre, it was drama going down. One team should have won and one team should have lost. And I think they were prepared for that.”

O’Keeffe continued: “And if you’re at the ground, if you’re watching that drama take place, you have totally engrossed it in. The umpires say ‘oh, that’s time, we’re off’.”