The 2019 World Cup Final is touted as one of the best games ever in the history of the gentlemen’s game. It was indeed a lip-smacking and mouthwatering encounter as none of the two teams had ever won the World Cup. In the end, England lifted the trophy and ever since then, there have been tweets after tweets and speculations after speculations as to whether England really deserved to win.

And one man who has been in the spotlight of late for the wrong reasons is the Sri Lankan umpire Kumar Dharmasena. He has admitted an umpiring ‘error’ as he had awarded six overthrow runs to England instead of five. What followed was a bane for New Zealand and a boon for England. The stipulated 50-overs and the Super Over both ended in a tie. But as a result of the ICC’s boundary count rule, England ended up winning the 2019 World Cup.

However, according to the British media, Ben Stokes had requested Dharmasena to withdraw the four free overthrow runs which came due to a deflection off Stokes’ bat.

This is exactly what former England player James Anderson told BBC’s Tailenders podcast:

“I think, talking to Michael Vaughan who saw him after the game, Ben Stokes actually went to the umpires and said, ‘Can you take that four runs off. We don’t want it.’ But it’s in the rules and that’s the way it is.”

“The etiquette in cricket is if the ball is thrown at the stumps and it hits you and goes into a gap in the field you don’t run. But if it goes to the boundary, in the rules it’s four and you can’t do anything about it,” Anderson added.

However, Dharmasena vehemently denied Stokes requesting the withdrawal of the four freebies. He also went on to say that ICC must change the rule.

“I made a judgmental call after consulting with my colleague Marais Erasmus. The decision was like calling a no-ball or a wide-ball and I couldn’t consult the third umpire,” said Dharmasena. “I was 100 per cent sure that the batsmen had crossed. It looked as if he had almost reached the popping crease. I admit that the rule has to change and I also admit that I was wrong.”

“If the ball hits the stumps and goes for four, then it’s fine but the moment the ball hits the bat or the batsmen, it should be a dead ball.”

After that particular incident, former Australian Umpire Simon Taufel criticized the umpires for such a massive error in the final as Adil Rashid hadn’t even made it to the non-striker’s crease after the ball had been thrown by the fielder.

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Umpire Kumar Dharmasena has admitted that an “error” was made as England was awarded six runs from an overthrow in the 2019 World Cup final against New Zealand on last Sunday (14th July).

A rocket throw by Martin Guptill at the stumps deflected off the bat of a diving Ben Stokes as he tried to complete a second run and raced to the boundary for four, with Sri Lankan umpire Dharmasena awarding England six runs.

Dharmasena did talk to South Africa’s Marais Erasmus before awarding six runs.

The incident proved to be a turning point of the match as both teams finished at 241 runs after their stipulated 50 overs pushing the match into the Super Over. However, both sides scored 15 in the Super Over and finally, England was declared as champions on the basis of ‘boundary count’.

“It’s easy for people to comment after seeing TV replays,” Dharmasena told the Sunday Times. “I agree that there was a judgmental error when I see it on TV replays now. But we did not have the luxury of TV replays at the ground, and I will never regret the decision I made.

“I did consult the leg umpire [Erasmus] through the communication system which is heard by all other umpires and the match referee,” he told the newspaper.

“While they cannot check TV replays, they all confirmed that the batsmen have completed the second run. This is when I made my decision.

“Besides, the ICC praised me for the decision I made at that time.”

A report from the Times earlier in the week said that cricket’s lawmakers, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), plan to review the overthrows law when they next meet with the laws sub-committee, but no timeframe was given.

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Kumar Dharmasena has played for Sri Lanka from 1993 until 2004. He was a part of the winning squad of 1996 Cricket World Cup. His first match as an umpire was between India and Sri Lanka in 2009. He was appointed to the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires in 2011 after umpiring at the 2011 ICC World Cup.

Let’s find out his greatest XI of all time.

Dharmasena chose Matthew Hayden and Sanath Jayasuriya as his openers. Both have been part of the World Cup winning teams and were well known for their attacking style of play.

Dharmasena has packed his middle order with famous names like Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Kumar Sangakkara. He has chosen Jaques Kallis as a specialist all-rounder at number seven.

His bowling line up includes world-class names as well. Bowlers who have dominated world cricket have featured in his playing eleven. Wasim Akram, Muttiah Muralidharan, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath completes his team which has all cricketers from the late nineties.

Kumar Dharamsena’s all-time XI:

Matthew Hayden, Sanath Jayasuriya, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis, Wasim Akram, Muttiah Muralidharan, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath

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