Twitter was engulfed in another debate after an interesting dismissal from Sri Lanka- Pakistan Test match. The incident in question took place in the 29th over of Pakistan’s second innings when the Pakistan batter Imam-ul-Haq was stumped by Niroshan Dickwella off a Ramesh Mendis delivery.
While playing Mendis’ fifth ball, the left-hander, Imam tried to defend a rising off spinning ball on the back foot. He could not connect the ball and it was safely collected by the wicketkeeper Dickwella.
Dickwella’s next move is where this uninteresting delivery turned on its head. After playing the shot, Imam thought the ball to be complete and started getting ready for the next delivery. He started to mark his guard and in doing so he shifted his weight on the front foot and then on the back. Dickwella however was waiting eagle-eyed for Imam to do this and removed the bails at the exact same time when Imam shifted his body weight off of his left leg.
The Sri Lankan players appealed and the decision was sent upstairs to the third umpire. The fraction of a second clip from when Imam was stumped was played back where his foot was raised and he was given out by the third umpire.
The stumping decision, although technically correct, has caused quite a big discussion on social media. Many think that the ball was already dead when Dickwella collected it and tried to fake stump him once. Many however also this that in a sport like cricket which is already stacked in favour of batters, this decision should stand.
Talking of the match, Pakistan are currently playing at 142/2 with Babar Azam (24) and Abdullah Shafique (74) on the crease. The visiting team need 200 runs with eight wickets at hand.
Sri Lanka batter Dinesh Chandimal who is in a great reign of form came up with a score of 76 and 94* in the first two innings. Pakistan captain Babar Azam had come up with a gritty century in the first innings earlier.
Let’s look at some of the tweets that show the frenzy that Imam-ul-Haq’s stumping has created.
That. Is. Not. A. Stumping.
Absolute nonsense when you see how Dickwella takes the ball and it essentially becomes dead.@ICC#SLvsPAK #PAKvsSL #Notfair pic.twitter.com/4jRQYLt52w
— _Anas x Babar_ ? (@MAnasAli2000) July 19, 2022
?? Imam's back foot is on the ground
?? Keeper waits
?? Imam shifts his weight to the front foot
?? Keeper affects stumping with shoe perhaps marginally off the groundFair mode of dismissal?#SLvPAK pic.twitter.com/Q5Z1lljmfy
— Grassroots Cricket (@grassrootscric) July 19, 2022
come on dude…this isn't stumping…
imam was marking his guard…— _Anas x Babar_ ? (@MAnasAli2000) July 19, 2022
Dickwella pulled a real dick move today.
Stumping out Imam-ul-Haq like that just showed his frustration, nothing else.
A failed batsman and now the biggest losers of the test series. Dickwella is a disgrace to this game.
IA Pakistan will win this, anyway #PAKvsSL
— Razer (@mxxshahid) July 19, 2022
Imam's stumping was similar to mankading. Within the rules of law but not within the spirit of game
Reminds me of fakhar's run out#PAKvsSL #SLvPAK
— Mr. Dot (@M_U_KTK) July 19, 2022
As the commentator just said "thats a con dismissal" regarding Imam's stumping and rightly so!
Imam was marking his guard and wasn't taking a run! Silly rule overused by the lankans! #PAKvsSL
— Hamza Mir (@MEEERRRU) July 19, 2022
Just saw the video of imam’s stumping, thats terrible umpiring, its a dead ball!
— Dr. Idrees Mubarik (@doc_hormone) July 19, 2022
That. Is. Not. A. Stumping.
Absolute nonsense when you see how Dickwella takes the ball and it essentially becomes dead.@ICC#SLvsPAK #PAKvsSL #Notfair pic.twitter.com/4jRQYLt52w
— _Anas x Babar_ ? (@MAnasAli2000) July 19, 2022
Just saw Imam stumping. One for the family collection for sure.
— Osman Samiuddin (@OsmanSamiuddin) July 19, 2022
Today wasn't the first time that Dickwella attempted a late stumping. Last time he was fined for it, this time the TV umpire felt he was within his rights to do it to Imam. #SLvpak pic.twitter.com/t6dqhIRL2d
— Sreshth Shah (@sreshthx) July 19, 2022
It should be a dead ball. He literally goes for a stumping then doesn’t start juggling the ball then goes for the stumping when imam is marking his guard and his foot is of the ground. This isn’t fuken baseball where you can fake throw and get the runner out
— One minute down, next minute up ?? (@cricketroars) July 19, 2022
