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30 runs in 3 balls, one foot long no ball… Match fixing right under the nose of ICC? Questions raised on Sri Lankan legend – Read

By News Update

In the last several years, new records have been made in professional cricket for batting by bowlers. Many times 30 runs, 36 runs and even 42 runs have been scored in an over. But all these have been seen at different times, at different places and in different tournaments. But 30 runs in just 3 balls of one over, hearing this will make anyone’s ears perk up and eyes wide open. If this is not enough, a foot long no-ball was also seen in that over. All this happened in a match of Abu Dhabi T10 League, where now it has become a common sight and serious allegations of match fixing have started being made.

The Abu Dhabi T10 League has made its mark in the shortest unofficial format of cricket for the last 4-5 years. Earlier, mostly unknown or less famous cricketers used to play in this league, but due to the increasing popularity of T20 and T10 cricket leagues across the world, now famous cricketers are also playing in it. Stormy batting is being seen here but the kind of bowling that is being seen has become a joke.

Stormy batting, shameful bowling or….

The latest incident took place on November 25, when the teams of Delhi Bulls and Bangla Tigers were clashing. In this match, Delhi batted first and scored 123 runs losing 6 wickets in 10 overs. For him, number eight batsman Nikhil Chaudhary scored the highest score of 47 runs, that too in just 16 balls, which included 7 fours and 2 sixes. Out of this, Nikhil scored 28 runs in a single over.

Nikhil achieved these runs by hitting fours and sixes, but it was not he who got the limelight, but the bowler who bowled this over, that too with his shocking bowling. This bowler was Dasun Shanka. He spent 33 runs in this over but out of these, 30 runs came in just 3 balls. Yes, 30 runs were scored in her 3 legal balls and this happened because Shanaka crossed all limits of poor bowling and bowled 4 no-balls along with 3 balls in the over.

A four was hit on his first ball. Then the next two balls were no balls and fours were hit on these also. The next ball i.e. the second correct ball was hit for a four. Then a six was hit on the third correct ball. Then the next ball was a no-ball but no run was scored. After this he again bowled a no ball and got a four on it. That means the picture was something like this – 4, 4(nb),4(nb),4,6,(nb),4(nb).

…match fixing?

Shanaka again made a comeback and gave only one run each on the last 3 balls and 33 runs were spent from the over. But the way his no-balls were, it was even more shocking. On a no-ball, his foot was about a foot outside the crease. Generally a no-ball is visible up to one or two centimeters or one or two inches, but a no-ball of one foot is enough to put it under suspicion. Obviously, this was bound to lead to allegations of match fixing and that is exactly what happened. Many fans openly called it fixing on social media and demanded closure of the tournament.

All this is happening right under the nose of ICC

This is not the first time. Just a few days ago, another bowler had bowled a similar long no-ball. Such scenes have been seen in the last few seasons also. This is also shocking because Shanaka is not a small-time player, rather he is an experienced all-rounder of Sri Lanka and was also the former captain who won the Asia Cup 2 years ago. He was a part of the team till recently also. Apart from this, all this is happening right under the nose of ICC because the headquarters of ICC is in Dubai, a short distance from Abu Dhabi. In such a situation, will ICC take action on this?

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