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Was Over 30 the turning point in the India-SL Adelaide ODI?
It was the first ever tie between India and Sri Lanka in the history of One-day Internationals.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit Lasith Malinga over cover off the final delivery of the match to get the runs as India finished on 236 for 9 in their 50 overs, the same total their opponents had earlier put up, in the fifth ODI of the CB tri-series, in Adelaide, on Tuesday.
Interestingly, as Mohandas Menon pointed out on Twitter: 'First time both teams have scored same number of runs, lost same no of wkts, faced same no of overs, same no of extras, same no of 4s & 6s!'
The two teams even had the same number of maiden overs: 2.
Was Over 30 the turning point in the India-SL Adelaide ODI?
But barely had the emotions of a thriller sunk in, everyone's mind went back to a particular incident, or, should we say, slip up, which appears to have had a bearing on the final result of the match.
The incident in question is the 30th over of the Indian innings, bowled by Malinga, when only five balls were delivered.
In the age of technology and third umpires, it is hard to believe that everyone turned a blind eye to such a goof up by the on-field umpires. The usual norm in such cases is that the third umpire makes a quick call to his on-field colleagues and points out their mistake and the remaining ball is bowled.
However, at the Adelaide Oval, the men that mattered were caught napping!
Here's a quick re-run of the over in question.
The first ball was played for a single to the third-man region by Dhoni, while Gautam Gambhir pulled the next for a four.
Was Over 30 the turning point in the India-SL Adelaide ODI?
Gambhir then took a single off the third delivery, followed by a quick double by Dhoni.
India's captain then cut the next ball towards the third-man region for a single and the umpire called 'over' at the end of that particular delivery, the fifth of the over.
The missing delivery went unnoticed. May be, that's because India were cruising at India 135 for 4 and needed another 102 runs from 20.1 overs at that stage.
But, now, looking back, that one ball short has come back to haunt the Indians.
Do you think the result could have been different had six balls been bowled in that Malinga over?
Should the ICC act against the erring officials and ensure such mistakes are avoided in the future?
Was Over 30 the turning point in the India-SL Adelaide ODI?
The umpiring blunder by Englishmen Simon Fry and Nigel Llong came under the scanner soon after the match. Third umpire Bruce Oxemford of Australia also did little to rectify the lapse.
India captain Mahendra Singh made his displeasure clear but also admitted that they can't make a "big fuss" out of the issue.
"It's done and dusted with. We can create a big fuss out of it but what's the point? It's like a controversy standing right on the edge...just about to happen. What's the point as it's a controversy which is right there and we don't really want to get into anything like that...Hopefully, it won't be repeated, not only with us but not even with any other side," Dhoni said after the match.
"As I said, we have seen in the past. We have bowled an over and we almost changed sides but the third umpire interferred and said "Ok you have to bowl one more bowl in this particular over but it did not happen in this game." I don't know why? Nothing can be done right now," he added.