The Asia Cup Rising Stars 2025 league match between India A and Pakistan A turned out to be quite controversial. First, the on-field umpire made a mistake, and then the third umpire also committed an error, which cost the Indian team heavily. India A suffered a big defeat in this match. During India A’s batting in Doha, on-field umpire wrongfully gave Ashutosh Rana out, and later, during Pakistan A’s chase, confusion occurred over another dismissal. One wrong decision couldn’t be corrected, but the third umpire’s error in the second incident proved costly.
In the third ball of the 14th over, Ashutosh Sharma was given out LBW by the on-field umpire. With no DRS available, he could not review the decision and had to walk off. As soon as the umpire raised his finger, both Ashutosh Sharma and Nehal Wadhera were shocked, as the ball clearly appeared to be outside the off stump. The impact was also outside the line of the stumps. On-field umpires can make quick errors in such moments, but the third umpire’s mistake in the next incident was much bigger, as he incorrectly gave a Pakistan A batter not out.
The controversy deepened when Pakistan were chasing the target of 137. On the first ball of the 10th over, Maj Sadaqat lofted the ball towards long-off. Naman Dhir caught the ball and, before crossing the boundary line, threw it towards Nehal Wadhera, who completed the catch. According to both old and updated rules, this should not have been declared out, but the third umpire’s final decision was surprising — he gave the batter neither out nor six. Shockingly, the ball was declared a dot ball, with no runs awarded. India A captain Jitesh Sharma and the entire team questioned the umpires, but the decision remained unchanged.
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What does the rule say?
Cricket fans quickly referred to the rulebook. According to ICC’s updated Conditions of Play for T20 Internationals, revised in July this year, rule 19.5.2 states:
19.5.2.1: A fielder may jump from outside the boundary to make contact with the ball while airborne, but his next point of contact must be inside the field of play. If the first contact with the ball by the initial fielder is inside the boundary, but the second fielder catching or handling the ball is not grounded inside the field at the moment of contact, the shot must be awarded as a six.
This is exactly what happened in this case — yet a six was not given.