Cricket:India clinched the one-day series against England with a game to spare in Chandigarh as Steven Finn was denied a crucial wicket for breaking the stumps in his delivery stride.
Finn’s habit of colliding with the stumps has caused much debate among the game’s law-makers but it had a very practical consequence in the fourth ODI, with umpire Steve Davis calling dead ball when Suresh Raina was held at slip with India 178 for four.
At that point India were still 80 short of victory but Raina, 41 at the time, finished unbeaten on 89 to seal a five-wicket win in the 48th over.
It was not the first time Finn has paid for the problem, Davis also officiating when South Africa’s Graeme Smith was reprieved in similar circumstances last summer.
The incident overshadowed what was a fine contest, with Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen each scoring 76 and Joe Root (57 not out) adding a stylish maiden ODI half-century.
India’s response included a gutsy 83 from Rohit Sharma, recalled after a year in the cold, before Raina’s dramatic innings.
Cook paid tribute to both Sharma and Raina, whose partnership of 68 for the fourth wicket changed the game in the England captain’s view.
“I think that partnership between Raina and Rohit Sharma really (changed the game). When he (Raina) came in the momentum changed very quickly and we just tried to stop the scoring,” Cook said on Sky Sports 1.
“But I thought we put on a good performance today, the conditions weren’t quite in our favour and to get it so close I thought we played quite well.
“(The ball) clearly nipped around pretty much throughout our whole innings but as the dew came down it started to skid on a little bit.
“We knew that if we could load ourselves in those last 10 overs with our batters in, we had a chance to get between 250 and 260, which is a good score on that wicket.”