During the 2025 Asia Cup match between India and Sri Lanka, a controversy happened when Dasun Shanaka was judged not out. This was after Sanju Samson hit the stumps from Arshdeep Singh’s delivery in the Super Over, even though Shanaka’s feet were not behind the crease at that time.
Even though it looked like Shanka was out, the third umpire made the call that he was not out. The Indian team was surprised and spoke with the umpire, who explained the reason for his call. Even though Shanaka was out on the next ball, it didn’t change the game’s end result.
Why wasn’t Dasun Shanaka declared out?
Shanaka was a distance from his crease, and Arshdeep also appealed for a catch, which proved to not work out for India. Right after Samson hit the stumps, the on-field umpire raised his finger. Shanaka quickly asked for a review.
The replays showed that Shanaka didn’t hit the ball, so the decision was changed. Some thought it was just a mistake that would be fixed, and Shanaka would then be called out for being run-out. Still, Shanaka was allowed to keep batting.
Why was Shanaka given not out? The reason is that the ball was called dead before the run-out. According to law 20.1.1.13 of the MCC Laws, a ball is dead from the moment an incident happens that leads to the ball being called dead. So, even if the umpire raised his finger after the run-out, the ball had already been declared dead as soon as it got to Samson’s gloves.
In a similar situation, if an umpire calls a player out, but the player scores runs and then asks for a review, the runs won’t count if the decision is changed.
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What do the rules say?
Here’s law 20.1 (Ball is Dead) from the MCC Laws:
20.1 Ball is dead
20.1.1 The ball becomes dead when
20.1.1.1 it is in the wicket-keeper or bowler’s hands.
20.1.1.2 a boundary is scored. check Law 19.7 (Runs scored from boundaries).
20.1.1.3 a batter is out. The ball is dead right when what caused the dismissal happened.
20.1.1.4 it’s stuck between the bat and the batter, or between their clothes or gear, whether they tried to hit it or not.
20.1.1.5 it gets stuck in a batter’s clothes or gear, or an umpire’s clothes, whether they tried to hit it or not.
20.1.1.6 there’s an offense resulting in penalty runs under Laws 24.4 (Player returning without permission) or 28.2 (Fielding the ball). The ball will not count as one of the over.
20.1.1.7 Law 28.3 (Protective helmets belonging to the fielding side) is broken.
20.1.1.8 the match ends as stated in Law 12.9 (Conclusion of match).
