Joe Root's Dismissal On Fourth Day Of Edgbaston Test Sparks Huge Debate, Here's What The MCC Laws State

IND vs ENG: The Indian team looks all set to win the Edgbaston Test. Ben Stokes' England, who have always taken pride in chasing big totals on the final day of a Test match, have been strangled in their own gameplan. The hosts, with seven wickets in hand, need 536 runs to go 2-0 up in the series, but at the moment, it doesn't seem like happening. Fans and experts are opining that the best option for England as of now is to play out a draw. The stakeholders of the Indian Test team were criticized for their decision of resting their star pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah in the second Test.

Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep deserve all the credit for the manner in which they have bowled in this ongoing second Test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series. Akash Deep, in particular, was right on the money in the final innings. The pacer ended up dismissing the dangerous Ben Duckett and Joe Root.

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Was Akash Deep's Delivery Illegal?

England's best bet to chase down the target of 608 runs was Joe Root. The former English skipper is currently in the form of his life, and he was expected to hold one end together. Unfortunately for England, Akash Deep cleaned Root up while he was batting on six runs. While speaking on the BBC's TMS show, commentator Mitchell shared her observations about the delivery from Akash Deep that ended up dismissing Joe Root.

'The delivery from Akash Deep, which we said was wide off the crease, his foot on the back crease is out. Looks like by about two inches. Maybe a little bit more. But comfortably. So his back foot, which needs to land within the line, just taps about two inches over the line. Not picked up,' said Mitchell.

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Here's What the MCC Law Says

As far as the laws of the MCC are concerned, they do not seem to be matching with Mitchell's views. The MCC rule clearly says that for a delivery to be fair in respect of the feet, in the delivery stride (21.5.1), the bowler’s back foot must land within and not touching the return crease appertaining to his/her stated mode of delivery. (21.5.2) The bowler’s front foot must land with some part of the foot, whether grounded or raised, on the same side of the imaginary line joining the two middle stumps as the return crease described in 21.5.1 and behind the popping crease.