Picture Credit: Twitter
All sports should ideally be played with the right sportsman's spirit. Although there are laws that govern all sporting events, yet there are larger values that should ideally be at the crux of sports- the ideals of humanity, brotherhood, camaraderie etc. People both young and old watch sports and it is often said to be the greatest form of entertainment.
Cricket among all sports is twice blessed as it is also called the gentleman's sport. While the term gentleman itself is redundant at a time when the women are set to be taking the game to another level, a video currently doing the rounds on the internet has not set a great example from the women's game.
This happened during the World T20 Qualifier between Canada and USA. While Canada batted first and made 85/4, the USA eventually fell short by 7 runs. It was Canada's Divya Saxena who top-scored for the team with 40 from 45 deliveries. However, it was during her innings when she was intentionally coming in the way of the fielders to try and take her catch and get her wicket.
It happened in the first ball of her innings in the very first over itself and while there was some kind of an appeal and objection from the USA side, Saxena got away with it on a duck and ended up being the top individual scorer of the match.
Check out the video of batter's obstruction in the field here:
Here is what the MCC's Law defines out obstructing the field as:
"37.1.1 Either batter is out Obstructing the field if, except in the circumstances of 37.2, and while the ball is in play, he/she wilfully attempts to obstruct or distract the fielding side by word or action."
"37.1.2 The striker is out Obstructing the field if, except in the circumstances of 37.2, in the act of receiving a ball delivered by the bowler, he/she wilfully strikes the ball with a hand not holding the bat. This will apply whether it is the first strike or a second or subsequent strike. The act of receiving the ball shall extend both to playing at the ball and to striking the ball more than once in defence of his/her wicket."