Twitter reacts to umpire ruling Poonam Yadav’s ‘double-bounce’ wicket as no-ball

Poonam Yadav’s spell in the inaugural match of the World T20 today will be talked about for years and years to come. More than the fact that it helped India score a historic upset over the mighty Australian team, the sheer spectacle of the spell - be it the extremely slow, flighted deliveries or the googlies that puzzled the batsmen - was a treat to watch in itself. She even narrowly missed out on a hat-trick due to a dropped catch and mind-bogglingly, she would have had YET ANOTHER wicket had it not been for the rulebooks of the ICC, which denied her a five-wicket haul.

In 18th over, with the Aussies needing 30 more to win and with their trump card Ashleigh Gardner on strike, Poonam Yadav had the responsibility of taking India over the line. By now, she’d already taken four wickets and on the second ball of the over, she delivered an uncharacteristic half-tracker. However, the ball had all but no pace on it, and staggeringly, it completely died after bouncing the first time around. It then fascinatingly bounced for a second time and then went on to hit the stumps. As a puzzled Gardner stood there bewildered, the Indians erupted in joy, but the umpires wanted to make sure that it was legally out, given that it bounced twice.

Much to everyone’s astonishment, replays showed that the ball had in fact bounced for the second time BEFORE the popping crease. Interestingly, MCC rules state that a ball may be called a no-ball if it bounces more that twice before reaching the batsman/popping crease, so after deep discussion and confirming that the second bounce of the ball was indeed before the popping crease, the umpires ruled it a no-ball. To add insult to injury, the ball being declared a no-ball meant that Gardner now had a free hit to exploit, but Yadav kept the batsman on the leash by incredibly bowling a dot-ball. Alas, it turned out to be a ball that had multiple anti-climatic ends.

This is what happened! 

Got to feel sad for Poonam as she missed out on a 5 wicket haul! 

I am not kidding! 

And then adding insult to the wound! 

Glad someone is there out there to relate with Poonam Yadav! 

A rare sighting indeed! 

Wouldn't have seen that coming in a million years! 

For all those people who were baffled by the decision!

The debate intensifies! 

Finally!