Salmon Ali Agha run-out by Mehidy Hasan Miraz has been declared by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) which is the custodian of the Laws of the game as entirely fair and within the rules.
The scandalous runout occurred when the second ODI between Bangladesh and Pakistan was conducted at Dhaka on March 13. Mehidy Hasan bowled to Mohammad Rizwan who struck the ball directly back to the non striker Salman Agha. The Pakistan batter was caught with the ball between his legs and when he tried to hand the ball back to Mehidy, the bowler rushed over him and knocked the wicket out to run him out.
Following the concerns about Spirit of the Game, MCC issued a statement that stated that what the Mehidy Hasan of Bangladesh did was fully within the provisions of the law and considered just. The MCC further said that Agha was in error by attempting to retrieve the ball without the fielding team having been consulted and, thus, he was a subject to be dismissed on the grounds of Obstructing the Field, because the ball was not dead.
“Under Laws, there is little that either umpire could have done differently. The non-striker was clearly out of his ground when the wicket was broken, and the ball was in play. That is out,” the statement read.
“It is also worth pointing out that the non-striker had left his ground when the ball was in play and had just started to attempt to regain his ground when he collided with Mehidy. Furthermore, no batter should attempt to pick the ball up without the consent of the fielding side, and had he done so, he would have been at risk of an Obstructing the field dismissal. In retrospect, he would have been better using that time to attempt to regain his ground,” MCC added.
Agha was run out while batting on 64. But in the end, Pakistan won by 128 runs. They would nevertheless lose the first and third ODIs handily and lose the series 2-1 in Dhaka.
