Cricket ODI World Cup 2023

'Kya ho jata 100 to uska fir bhi hota' - Twitter divided over 'wide-ball' denied by umpire Richard Kettleborough during India vs Bangladesh as Virat Kohli neared his hundred

Richard Kettleborough denied giving a wide ball when India needed 2 runs to win and Virat Kohli needed 3 runs to complete his 48th ODI century.

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Mathew K
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Richard Kettleborough and Virat Kohli (File Photo, Twitter)

Richard Kettleborough and Virat Kohli (File Photo, Twitter)

India and Bangladesh took on each other in the 17th match of the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023. Both teams played this match at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. The men in blue comfortably won the clash by a big margin of 7 wickets to register their fourth consecutive win in the tournament so far.

Meanwhile, there was something else that attracted the headlines even more than India’s win and it was none other than the decision from umpire Richard Kettleborough when former Indian skipper and modern-day batting great, Virat Kohli was nearing his century.

The incident happened during the 42nd over of the Indian innings when Bangladesh’s Nasum Ahmed came to bowl and India needed 2 runs to win; whereas Kohli needed 3 runs to complete his 48th ODI century. Nasum Ahmed intentionally bowled the first ball of the over a wide to stop Kohli from scoring a century but things took a complete turn when on-field umpire Richard Kettleborough didn’t declare it a wide and eventually, it was counted a fair delivery.

Richard Kettleborough attracts the eyeballs for his decision

This incident has now ignited a new debate in the cricketing fraternity among cricket fans and the experts of the game. A few of the fans are coming up with the justification that it was not given wide by the umpire due to the initial movement of Virat Kohli; on the other hand, some of the fans reckoned that it was not a big deal if the umpire didn’t declare that a wide ball because that would have changed nothing as Virat Kohli completed his century with a six and India were already heading to the win easily.

The social media looked divided on this debate which has an experienced umpire Richard Kettleborough in its nucleus. Notably, it was Virat Kohli’s 78th international century and 48th ODI century; now, he is just two centuries away from breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s world record of 49 ODI centuries.

Here’s how fans reacted to the ‘wide ball denied’ incident involving umpire Richard Kettleborough:

 

ODI World Cup 2023 Featured Virat Kohli Richard Kettleborough