VIDEO | Under-pressure Kumar Dharmasena calls no-ball despite Ishant Sharma being inside line

12/14/2018

After Fox released a video showing Ishant Sharma bowling six no-balls in an over, and none was given, Kumar Dharmasena was under fire. That played on his mind today and despite Ishant was well within the line, he called it a no-ball which saw the pacer bowling on the other end after that.

Overstepping has been a problem with Ishant Sharma for a long time and now Fox released a video, in which Ishant bowled 16 no-balls in the first innings itself. Surprisingly, he bowled all the deliveries in one over by overstepping the line and that forced Ricky Ponting to slam the level of umpiring on Channel Seven. The incident made Ishant Sharma more determined not to bowl a single no-ball in the Perth Test, but certainly, Dharmasena wanted to make himself guilty free by calling no-balls even when it wasn’t one.

Ishant bowled the second delivery of the seventh over with his generally long forward stride, but umpire immediately called it a no-ball. The decision surprised Ishant, but he went on to complete the over without any fuss. However, replays suggested that he hadn’t overstepped and that was attested by Cricinfo and Cricbuzz.

“That umpire Kumar Dharmasena pulled him up for a front-foot no-ball when he had a fair margin of his foot behind the crease, perhaps, rattled him today,” Cricinfo wrote in their review of the day’s action.

“Ishant to Marcus Harris, no ball, good length delivery outside off stump, left alone, Ishant oversteps the line, but to me, it's not a no ball, the first point of contact was just inside the line and then the foot slipped,” Cricbuzz wrote in their live commentary.

Ishant was so terrified by Dharmasena’s no-ball call that he didn’t come to bowl from his end in the entire day.