‘Spirit of Cricket’ is a term that is vaguely used by teams for decisions that are a little tricky, and don’t end up going their way. Be it ‘Mankad’, or the more recent incident of Alex Carey disturbing the timber when Jonny Bairstow walked out of the crease, during the Ashes series in 2023.
There was a big debate in the name of ‘Spirit of Cricket’, if Carey should have gone for that dismissal. But on Sunday, during India vs England 1st Test in Hyderabad, Ben Foakes came tantalisingly close to pulling off a similar dismissal against Jasprit Bumrah. Though India were on the verge of a loss, with scores reading 188-9, but still, it raises the question, whether that would be okay with Bairstow and his team now.
The incident happened when Bumrah missed the ball, Foakes collected it cleanly, and in a jerk reaction, for a brief moment, the batsman’s feet were in the air. Had Bumrah been dismissed then, the match would have ended a little early, but would have surely raised the debate again.
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