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Pakistan's batting sensation Saim Ayub,who made his Test debut, encountered a bizarre incident on the field when he was racing to stop a ball from reaching the boundary on Day 3 of the third Test against Australia on January 5, Friday. During the 65th over's second delivery of Australia's innings, Steve Smith stepped out to strike Sajid Khan over the covers but didn't quite get the timing right. Nevertheless, he succeeded in getting the ball past the in-field, prompting Ayub to give chase. In an attempt to stop the ball Ayub's foot got stuck in the field, causing a piece of the ground to come loose which saw the star batter tumbling down the ground. Fortunately, he wasn't seriously injured, but the ball ended up hitting his cap which came off while fielding which sparked five-run penalty debate. However, despite this, match officials decided against imposing a five-run penalty on the Pakistan team, a decision later clarified by Cricket Australia.
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"For those asking: It's not a five-run penalty for hitting the cap as the contact between ball and hat was accidental, and nor was the cap deliberately left on the field, as helmets tend to be," a post on X (formerly Twitter) from Cricket Australia read.
All about the rules
The law regarding penalty runs for this scenario is outlined in MCC Law 28.3, which addresses the situation involving a protective helmet on the field.
According to Law 28.3.1, protective helmets not in use by fielders should not be placed on the ground or any surface above ground level, except behind the wicket-keeper and in alignment with both sets of stumps.
Law 28.3.2 states that if a ball in play hits the protective helmet placed as per 28.3.1, the following actions are taken:
- The umpire must signal No ball or Wide to the scorers, if applicable.
2. The umpire must award 5 Penalty runs to the batting side.
3. Any runs completed by the batters before the ball strikes the protective helmet, as well as the run in progress if the batters had crossed at the moment the ball hit the helmet, will be counted.
Ayub's debut at the SCG hasn't been ideal so far. In his first innings, he was dismissed for a duck by Josh Hazlewood. Additionally, during Australia's batting, Ayub missed an easy catch in the slips, giving David Warner a chance to extend his innings, though Warner didn't capitalize on this opportunity much. He also dropped a catch off Mitchell Marsh earlier on Day 3. Ayub was brought in as a substitute for Imam-ul-Haq, with Pakistan making two changes for the Sydney Test.
Later, the left-handed batter did impress with his batting prowess but his stay at the crease was short lived as he returned to the pavilion after scoring 33 off 53 as Pakistan are lurching at 68/7 at the close of Day 3 game.
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