IPL 2017, Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rising Pune Supergiant: Why Ben Stokes was not given out despite edging the ball

The 44^th match of the Indian Premier League is underway at the Rajiv Gandhi International cricket stadium in Hyderabad between the 3^rd and 4^th place Rising Pune Supergiant and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

After winning the toss and opting to field first, the defending champions got off to the perfect start as the in-form Rahul Tripathi in was dismissed in the 2^nd over of the match thanks to a brilliant piece of fielding by Bipul Sharma.

Things went from bad to worse for the Supergiant when Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed after scoring 22 off 20 deliveries. However, Ben Stokes led the revival as he carried on from where he left off in the previous match and smashed his way to a quick-fire 39 off 25 balls with one four and three sixes to his name.

WATCH THE VIDEO OF THE INCIDENT HERE

During the 2^nd ball of the 15^th over of the innings, Rashid Khan bowled a googly to Stokes. The Englishman ran down the wicket to try and hit but missed it as it went to the wicket-keeper Naman Ojha who fumbled and missed the stumping. However, Ojha and Rashid were convinced that Stokes had edged the ball and went up in appeal but umpire KN Ananthapadmanabhan was unperturbed.

Replays suggested that Stokes had clearly edged it but the ball had hit Ojha’s helmet before it landed in his gloves and that is why the umpire had not given it out. Rashid got his revenge in the very next delivery though as Stokes was beaten and bowled.

According to the rules of the sport, A fair catch is one that:

Providing that in every case neither (i) at any time the ball nor (ii) throughout the act of making the catch as defined in Law 19.4, any fielder in contact with the ball is, as described in Law 19.3(b), touching the boundary or grounded beyond the boundary, a catch shall be considered to be fair if(a) the ball is hugged to the body of the catcher or accidentally lodges in his clothing or, in the case of a wicket-keeper only, in his pads. However, it is not a fair catch if the ball lodges in a protective helmet worn by a fielder.

A late Dhoni blitz saw RPS reach a total of 148 in their allotted overs. A win for either side would take them to 2^nd place and strengthen their chances of qualifying for the playoffs.