Explained: Why wide wasn't given on the penultimate delivery while Virat Kohli was on cusp of 100 against Bangladesh

Umpire Richard Kettleborough received lots of criticism for his decision that allowed Virat Kohli to score his century.

Virat Kohli ended his long World Cup century drought, thanks to a contentious non-wide call by umpire Richard Kettleborough. This happened during India vs Bangladesh ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 encounter, which was played on October 19 in Pune.

Bangladesh had batted first and posted 256/8, with Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das scoring half-centuries. For India, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj took two wickets each.

In response, Rohit Sharma (48) and Shubman Gill (53) ripped Bangladesh bowling apart, and then Virat Kohli, with an unbeaten ton, helped India win the game in 41.3 overs. This was India’s fourth win in four games, and they have 8 points in the CWC 2023.

With this win, India are now second on the points table with 8 points, just behind New Zealand, who are No. 1 due to a slightly better net run rate than India.

The 42nd over of India's chase against Bangladesh began with the game already decided, but Virat Kohli was on a mission to reach three figures. India needed two runs to win, and he was on 97, needing three more runs to reach the 100-runs mark.

He achieved three figures and won the game with a six on the third ball of the over, but not before the umpire made an unusual judgment. Nasum Ahmed's first ball was delivered down the leg side, but no wide was signaled, and Kettleborough smirked as his arms remained in position.

Watch the video here:

https://twitter.com/DuttShekhar/status/1715092682479976849

Here is why Richard Kettleborough didn’t signal a wide despite the ball being down the leg side

Many assumed that Kettleborough had chosen to allow Kohli the full opportunity to make a century rather than make a decision to lessen the chances, and the umpire came in for some criticism for doing so.

But in reality, Kettleborough was able to do this due to a change in the laws of cricket in 2022. Strangely, it was a law change brought in to help bowlers, but it may have assisted a batter in this case.

Before the change to the law, clause 22.1.1 in the MCC Laws of Cricket, which talks about judging a wide, states: “If the bowler bowls a ball, not being a No ball, the umpire shall adjudge it a Wide if, according to the definition in 22.1.2, the ball passes wide of where the striker is standing and which also would have passed wide of the striker standing in a normal guard position.”

In March 2022, MCC announced a new Code of Laws set to take effect on October 1, thus affecting Clause 22.1.

“In the modern game, batters are, more than ever, moving laterally around the crease before the ball is bowled. It was felt unfair that a delivery might be called ‘Wide’ if it passes where the batter had stood as the bowler entered his or her delivery stride.

Therefore, Law 22.1 has been amended so that a wide will apply to where the batter is standing, where the striker has stood at any point since the bowler began their run-up, and which would also have passed wide of the striker in a normal batting position,” MCC said in a statement.

A close inspection of the non-wide reveals that this may have played a role. As the bowler approaching Virat Kohli who was in an open stance, his front foot planted much more to the leg side than when the ball passes by, with another slight shuffle occurring as the ball is delivered down the leg.

If the ball would have hit Kohli if he had stayed still, then not calling it wide is the right decision.