Rule of pitching outside leg in LBW: Despite cricket being a game for the masses, it has its nuanced nitty-gritty that needs in-depth knowledge to lay down the laws in the simplest of terms for the laymen and one of its most complicated cases is the dismissal of LBW.
The easier part is when the ball is pitching outside the off, clattering onto the batter’s pads without any movement whatsoever and the ball-tracking shows that it flies straight into the timbre. As simple as it can get, where the batter is simply standing in the line of the ball and the stumps and he couldn’t produce a shot.
SPEED!
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Fast bowling GOLD!
The great modern battle of the beasts-
AdvertisementShoaib Akhtar vs Matthew Hayden
First up…an inviting full ball, cracked for 4…
Then LBW! Shoaib kindly reminds Haydos where the dressing room is
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Here is the rule for pitching outside leg in LBW
However, the trickier part is what happens when the ball is pitched outside the leg-stump. As soon as you see in a review that the ball has pitched outside the off-stump, it is deemed as not out. Well, there is a well-constructed reason for the same.
Ideally, if you are a right-handed batter and the bowler is running round the wicket, the first thing that comes in the line of the bowler is your pads. Hence, if the ball is pitching outside the leg-stump, it would automatically be advantageous for the bowlers with the batter even getting an opportunity to strike.
The same law applies for a southpaw and when the bowler comes around the wickets, with the batter’s pads coming ahead of the delivery. Hence, it automatically advantage for the bowler and the batter will have to be extraordinarily fast to cut short the advantage which isn’t easy.
Fast bowlers with highest percentage of bowled/LBW dismissals in ODIs (min 200 wkts):
1. Waqar Younis= 53.85
2. Wasim Akram= 53.39
3. Kapil Dev= 47.43
4. Zaheer Khan= 45.74
5. Shoaib Akhtar= 44.94To my surprise Malinga isn’t in the top 5 >>
Advertisement— Rehan Ulhaq (@Rehan_ulhaq) April 28, 2020
Now you may say what if it is a right-handed batter and the bowler is bowling from over the wicket? Well, if it is not extraordinary seam movement if the ball is pitching outside the leg-stump from a pacer, it would physics-defying movement for the cherry to nip back in while for a spinner the ball may drift back in, but at the same time with a reduced pace, it becomes much easier for the batter to alleviate the threat of the ball kissing the pads, even before he could blink.
Hence the reason for it being not out if the ball pitches outside the leg-stump is that it would otherwise be an undue advantage for the bowler trying to hit the batter’s pads and as the rule for LBW goes, where if the ball kisses the pad first, the batter will have to depart, without even able to make a case for himself.
