An LBW decision caused controversy during Women's T20 World Cup match© X (formerly Twitter)
There was a big controversy over a contentious LBW decision on during the T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and Australia on Sunday. In the 17th over of the Australia innings, Phoebe Litchfield tried to reverse sweep off Deepti Sharma's bowling but missed it completely. The ball crashed into her pads and the on-field umpire gave the LBW decision in India's favour. However, the third umpire judged that the ball actually pitched outside the leg stump line and asked the on-field officials to reverse their decision. The Indian fielders, including Smriti Mandhana, were left fuming by the decision. They claimed that as the batter changed her batting stance for the delivery, she should have been treated as a right-hander.
However, according to the official rules, the definition of off and on sides does not change even if the batter changes the stance while playing a switch hit. As a result, as the ball pitched outside the batter's leg stump, it automatically meant that the batter could not be dismissed LBW.
36.1 Out LBW
36.3 Off side of wicket
The off side of the striker's wicket shall be determined by the striker's batting position at the moment the ball comes into play for that delivery.
— Pushkar Pushp (@ppushp7) October 13, 2024
— (@thundarrstorm) October 13, 2024Do you agree with Shikha Pandey?
Phoebe Litchfield's LBW review overturned; ball pitched outside leg stump.
[CricketGully Cricket T20WorldCup INDvAUS] pic.twitter.com/P9P1d7KPeQ
India lost to defending champions Australia by nine runs in their last group match to find themselves in a difficult position to qualify for the semifinals of the women's T20 World Cup.
Chasing 152 for a win, India ended at 142 for 9 with captain Harmanpreet Kaur top-scoring with 54 not out off 47 balls. Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma chipped in with 29 and 20 respectively.
India ended their Group A campaign on four points after two wins and two losses.
Australia, who topped the group with all four wins, qualified for the semifinals while New Zealand (4 points) need a win against Pakistan on Monday to make it to the last-four stage.
Opting to bat, Australia were restricted to 151 for 8 with opener Grace Harris top-scoring with 40 off 41 balls. Stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath and Ellyse Perry chipped in with 32 each.
For India, Renuka Singh and Deepti Sharma took two wickets apiece while Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav and Shreyanka Patil got one each.
(With PTI inputs)