Picture Credit: Twitter
Wasim Akram, the former ODI World Cup winner for Pakistan, has called out the cricket fans for unnecessarily creating a controversy out of a ball delivered to Virat Kohli against Bangladesh, which wasn’t given as a wide by the umpire. The 57-year-old wasn’t happy with them making an issue out of the situation, calling it a “genuine mistake” by Richard Kettleborough before stating that “people live off this crap.”
The controversy was sparked after the former Indian captain Virat Kohli faced up the first ball of the 42nd over against Nasum Ahmed, in an open stance with his front foot planted outside the leg stump. He moved inside the line of the ball, which was fired down the leg side, but Richard Kettleborough didn’t call it a wide, followed by a smirk on his face.
The new Code of Laws to affect the Clause 22.1.1 from the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) might have prompted the umpire to not rule it a wide ball in favour of the Virat Kohli. But Wasim Akram thought that it was a genuine mistake by the umpire Richard Kettleborough during a show on a Pakistan channel, where he was quoted as saying, “Looks like one of those genuine mistakes (by the umpire). It was a wide ball for sure.”
Moments later, he wasn’t having any of the controversy created by the cricket fans and said, “This is for people who have nothing to do, who live off this crap and then they can go nuts with it.” Moreover, when Richard Kettleborough didn’t call the ball from Nasum Ahmed as a wide, India required two runs for a win against Bangladesh, while Virat Kohli needed three runs to bring up his first century in the ODI World Cup after eight years, which he completed two balls later with a massive six over deep mid-wicket region.
