Shiva Singh. Photo: Gallo Images.
A young Indian spinner, Shiva Singh, made waves earlier this week after revealing a bizarre 360-degree bowling action.
The 19-year-old, an age-group international, was playing in a domestic Under-23 league match, but his delivery was deemed a dead ball by the umpire.
Following a consultation, the umpires then informed Singh and his captain that they would continue calling his deliveries dead balls if he adopted that action.
Singh, however, claims he bowled with the same action previously in a 50-over game, where the umpire didn’t sanction him.
According to Law 20.4.2.7, an umpire can signal a dead ball if “there’s an instance of a deliberate attempt to distract under either of Laws 41.4 (Deliberate attempt to distract striker) or 41.5 (Deliberate distraction, deception or obstruction of batsman)”.
The decision received the support Simon Taufel, one of world cricket’s foremost former umpires.