When India bowled just 5 balls in an over and nobody noticed

The ongoing England and India Test at Vizag is surely a crucial game for both sides. Either of the teams have had flickering fortunes in the match thus far. India were expected to steamroll the opposition in the final innings on a turning track. However, things emerged out to be different for England in the second innings. Openers Haseeb Hameed and Alastair Cook did exceedingly well to give England a firm start in a tall run chase.

Set 405 for the win, England need to script history if they wish to win this match. Among all the key highlights of the match, one stood out among the rest. The peculiarity of this highlight is the fact that it is not seen too often. During the England’s second innings, India bowled just 5 balls in an over.

It was the 47th over of the innings and ace Indian bowler Ravichandran Ashwin had the ball in hand. Ashwin bowled just 5 balls before the umpire called it ‘over’. Neither did the English batsmen take notice of it, nor did the Indian fielders realise about the incident. The bowler, Ashwin, also had no clue that he had bowled just 5 balls in that over. The on-field umpires also missed the trick and their calculation.

England started off at 70/0 in the 47th over. The first ball of the 47th over yielded two runs for the English side in the form of leg byes. Ashwin tossed up the next one as Alastair Cook took a big stride forward to defend it. The third delivery of the over had an awkward bounce that saw Cook take a blow on his thigh pads.

Also read – Wriddhiman Saha will surely bounce back, defends Kiran More

The fourth ball saw a bit of drama unfold. Ashwin hit the pads of Cook and the Indians were interested in the appeal. Ashwin was convinced and decided to go for the review. The review stayed back with the umpire’s call, that was not out. It was perhaps this bit of on-field drama that let the umpires miss their calculation. The 5th ball was driven to short cover as Cook was successful in stealing a run there. There ended the 47th over with only 5 balls being bowled!