'I thought (the wicket-keeper) might catch it or the bails might come off, but I got lucky'
Australian Chris Lynn was tempted to visit a casino to cash in on his luck after a miraculous reprieve while batting during Kolkata Knight Riders' Indian Premier League (IPL) victory over Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.
The 28-year-old was on 13 when he inside-edged a delivery from paceman Dhawan Kulkarni onto his stumps and started walking off without bothering to look behind.
Kulkarni was celebrating too but it was soon cut short when the bowler realised that the ball had lit up the zing bail but failed to dislodge it, ricocheting off the leg stump to the fine-leg boundary for a four instead.
Lynn went on to score 50 off 32 deliveries in Kolkata's successful eight-wicket win chasing Rajasthan's 139-3 that put them at the top of the IPL table with four wins from five matches.
"I always like to ride my luck," Lynn told team mate Harry Gurney in a video posted on the IPL website.
"I inside-edged it, and then I heard a second noise. I thought (the wicket-keeper) might catch it or the bails might come off, but I got lucky."
"I might actually go the casino tonight!"
It was the third time in this year's IPL that a batsman had benefited from the bails refusing to be dislodged.
Rajasthan were also on the receiving end in an earlier match when Jofra Archer's delivery rolled onto the stumps but Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, yet to open his account, survived as bails could not be dislodged.
Dhoni, who went on to make a match-winning 75 off 46 deliveries, suffered the heartbreak himself on Saturday when bails did not fall despite his direct hit with Punjab opener Lokesh Rahul short of his ground.
Rajasthan captain Ajinkya Rahane appeared as bewildered as the bowler and was involved in a long conversation with the on-field umpire after Sunday's incident.
"The rules are what they are, but I told the umpire, at least don't declare it a boundary," Rahane said.
"It's already so tough for the bowlers in T20, and in such a situation, a ball can, maybe, declared a dead ball. That was my conversation with the umpires."
