Shamik Chakrabarty in Guwahati
The first three overs that Jasprit Bumrah bowled on the second morning of the second Test here in Guwahati were maidens. Mohammed Siraj, too, chipped in with a maiden, but stand-in captain Rishabh Pant wanted to introduce spin early and brought Kuldeep Yadav into the attack. The left-arm wrist-spinner took a long time to start the over and his skipper was frustrated. More importantly, the stop clock crossed the 60-second mark and India were given a warning.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) introduced the stop-clock rule in Tests earlier this year and according to it, the fielding side should be ready to start an over within a minute of the previous one ending. Two warnings would be followed by a five-run penalty on the bowling team. No wonder then that Pant wanted Kuldeep to hurry up. He didn’t even wear his helmet and wanted the bowler to bowl the first ball. India, though, ran out of time and the warning was issued.
As per the rule, the warnings would be reset to zero after each segment of 80 overs. The current World Test Championship (WTC) is the first one where the rule is being applied.
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