Shiva Singh hogs the limelight with his 360-degree bowling run-up

Uttar Pradesh bowler Shiva Singh is in the news for his 360-degree twirl bowling action. He was recently involved in the C.K Nayudu Trophy encounter as UP faced off against the Bengal. While the game was easily won by Uttar Pradesh by an innings and 29 runs, Shiva’s unique bowling action was the talk of the town. The umpires had intervened when he tried to bowl with the 360-degree turn and called it a dead ball.

The video of the same is already going viral and the debate has sparked up whether the umpires were right in refraining the bowler to bowl with that action. Interestingly, Shiva’s normal action is different and he only did it during a particular delivery which is against the laws of the game. This action is deemed as an attempt to disturb the concentration of the batsman at the striker’s end.

According to the law 41.2 on fair and unfair play, the umpires have all the right to take the decision on the field. “The umpires shall be the sole judges of fair and unfair play. If either umpire considers an action, not covered by the Laws, to be unfair he/she shall intervene without appeal and, if the ball is in play, call and signal Dead ball.”

Simon Taufel opens up on the discussion

The umpire Vinod Sheshan called Shiva Singh’s delivery with a weird action as the dead ball and he has found support from the former ICC Elite Panel Umpire, Simon Taufel. He believed that the umpire was correct in his interpretation and the bowler wasn’t being fair on that occasion.

“The umpire is entitled to call and signal dead ball under Law 20.4.2.1 (unfair play) or 20.4.2.7. It’s up to the umpire but one would have to ask why the bowler did this and have to assume the only reason would be to distract or put the striker off. Doesn’t seem right or fair to me. If it is his normal bowling action then maybe a different outcome,” Taufel said while speaking to Cricket Next.

One of the domestic umpires felt that Shiva Singh, who was part of the U19 World Cup earlier this year, could be allowed to bowl if his normal action is the 360-degree twirl but that is not the case. “If he bowls all balls like that, then he may bowl. But if he bowls only one ball like that, then a dead ball is the right call. t is a debatable point overall, but in this scenario the umpires did a wonderful job by diffusing the issue in bud by calling a dead ball as it may be distracting the striker,” he said.

As far as Shiva’s bowling performance in the match is concerned, he went on to pick four wickets in the game but with the normal action it seems.

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