RAJKOT: Of the 11 modes of getting out in cricket, one has sometimes been accorded comic status in cricket lore. It follows Law 35 dealing with dismissals.
“If the batsman dislodges his own stumps with his body or bat, while in the process of taking a shot or beginning his first run, he is out. This does not apply if he avoided a ball thrown back to the wicket by a fielder, or broke the wicket in avoiding a run out,” is how hit wicket is defined.
It’s a rare occurrence, as just 22 incidents in India’s 84 years in Tests might suggest. It was Virat Kohli’s turn to experience this quirk of fate on Saturday, which made him the second Test captain after Lala Amarnath in 1948-49 to be dismissed in this fashion. Lala’s son Mohinder has the unenviable distinction of being hit wicket thrice.
Mohinder’s teammate in the eighties, Kiran More had also suffered similarly, against the West Indies in Jamaica in 1989. Taking a break from commentary, the former wicketkeeper told Express his experience of trudging on the stumps. He says it’s bad luck, adding that error in judgement can also play a part. “You can’t blame the batsman if his leg on a rare occasion touches the stumps while playing off the back foot. That’s how the feet should move when you are trying to use the depth of the crease and that’s what we say when we teach. There isn’t much that you can do after getting out, other than being careful next time,” said More.
Kohli was dominating the pace-spin combinations England threw at him. Unafraid to rock back to pull when Chris Woakes bowled short with two men catching behind square on the leg side, the captain was fluent driving when Stuart Broad pitched it up. It was perhaps the feel-good factor that caused a bit of complacency. Too sure of what to do, he went back a bit too deep trying to pull Adil Rashid. Bat made connection with ball. So did the back leg, just firm enough to dislodge one bail.
Recounting his experience, More said he was pushed back by a series of short balls by Malcolm Marshall. “I went forward to a full one and it whizzed past my nose. I chose to stay deep and went back a bit too far for Walsh. It’s a feeling you like to forget as a batsman.” The one who may not forget it is Rashid. It was his first tryst with the lore.