‘Hand of God’ adds intrigue to Jaipur drama

Ravindra Jadeja called it the difference between victory and defeat, South African skipper Jacques Kallis believed it should have been declared four and not three.

Both were referring to Sachin Tendulkar’s brilliant effort in the final over of the first one-dayer at the Sawai Man Singh stadium on Sunday night.

With Wayne Parnell and Dale Steyn firing on all cylinders, South Africa had put themselves in with a glorious chance of an unexpected victory. Seemingly down and out at 225 for eight after 43 overs, chasing 299, the Proteas began the final over at 289 for eight, on a roll and the finish line a couple of beefy blows away.

The emotionally draining last over lasted ten minutes, and had its fair share of drama. Praveen Kumar cleaned up Steyn with the second delivery; with two deliveries needed, South Africa needed seven runs and last man Charl Langeveldt was on strike.

Langeveldt swung Praveen towards long leg, and a sprightly 37-year-old sprinted 20 yards to his right, flung himself at the ball and prevented a boundary. Or did he?

Tendulkar’s on-field commitment is as unquestionable as it is admirable; to see him come up with that acrobatic effort that late in the day, at such a decisive phase of the match and at this stage of his career ought to have put younger legs, bodies and minds to shame. Shahvir Tarapore checked with third umpire Sanjay Hazare to check if the ‘save’ was legal. Numerous replays failed to throw up conclusive evidence, which means, under the rules, the decision would be arrived at on the basis of the evidence available.

The boundary line decision is the only instance in cricket when the benefit of doubt doesn’t go the batsman’s way. If there is no conclusive proof that the fielder has touched the rope while taking a catch or making a save, it is to be construed that the fielder made no contact with the rope.

Three and a half years back, after some bad blood involving Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Brian Lara over a catch Daren Ganga might or might not have taken at the deep mid-wicket fence during the Antigua Test, the International Cricket Council issued a clarification stating that if replays didn’t decisively show contact between body and the boundary rope, then the umpire must infer that the ‘catch’ or the ‘save’ was clean.
Hazare applied that directive to the letter because no replay showed with any certainty that Tendulkar had been in contact with the rope when he stopped the ball.

Langeveldt had been involved in an even more bizarre incident earlier in the evening, during the last over of the Indian innings. A yorker slid under Ashish Nehra’s bat, clattered into the outside of the off-stump and raced away to the third man fence.
Miraculously, the bails didn’t move even a millimetre! Umpire Tarapore can hardly be faulted for awarding Nehra four runs when it should have been four byes.

Kallis jocularly suggested that it was that delivery which came back to haunt South Africa in the end. He might have a point there, because on such cruel twists of fate do outcomes sometimes hinge.