IPL 2020 CSK vs SRH: Here's Why Rashid Khan's Dismissal Should be Recorded as Caught, and Not Hit-wicket

In Match 29 of the IPL 2020, Sunrsiers Hyderbad‘s Rashid Khan was caught in the deep by Deepak Chahar in the 19th over of the innings with the match more or less sealed in favour of Chennai Super Kings at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

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Khan tried to dig out an attempted yorker from Shardul Thakur but hit it straight to long-off; however, in the process of executing the shot, the Afghanistan player had gone deep into his batting crease and had disturbed the stumps with his back foot.

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Safe to say social media was abuzz with Khan being out twice in two balls. But hey, that doesn’t happen in cricket. And almost everybody assumed that it was indeed hit-wicket owing to it being the first mode of dismissal that played out (before the catch was taken). The official dismissal of Khan was also recorded as Hit-wicket, but the laws that govern the game of cricket (MCC’s Laws of Cricket) say otherwise.

Simply put, caught — as a form of dismissal — takes precedence if the batsman is not out Bowled. The law 33.5 ‘Caught to take precedence’ under Appeals and Dismissals states:

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“If the criteria of 33.1 are met and the striker is not out Bowled, then he/she is out Caught, even though a decision against either batsman for another method of dismissal would be justified."

Law 33.1 ‘Out Caught’ states:

The striker is out Caught if a ball delivered by the bowler, not being a No ball, touches his/her bat without having previously been in contact with any fielder, and is subsequently held by a fielder as a fair catch, as described in 33.2 and 33.3, before it touches the ground.

Some of you may question if hit-wicket is infact another mode of being bowled? Well, No, it is not.

Law 32.1 ‘Out Bowled’ states:

32.1.1 The striker is out Bowled if his/her wicket is put down by a ball delivered by the bowler, not being a No ball, even if it first touches the striker’s bat or person.

32.1.2 However, the striker shall not be out Bowled if before striking the wicket the ball has been in contact with any other player or an umpire. The striker will, however, be subject to Laws 37 (Obstructing the field), 38 (Run out) and 39 (Stumped).

So even if Hit-wicket was the first incident to happen in this entire piece, caught will take precedence.

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