The 2025 Asia Cup has been full of drama, and the group stage of the tournament has also ended on a perplexing note. The India vs Sri Lanka match quite literally went down to the wire, as the scores were tied at 202.
The Super Over was going well for India. They have dismissed Kusal Perera for a duck, and then on the fourth ball, Dasun Shanaka was run out. India needed to chase just 3 runs as Arshdeep Singh got things done. But Shanaka wasn’t given out.
How? What exactly happened? Let’s go through the process, step by step.
Why was Dasun Shanaka not given out?
Let’s start with the delivery itself. Shanaka was deceived by an off-cutter from Arshdeep and raced off to get a quick single. But Kamindu Mendis denied him, and Sanju Samson ran him out.
However, at this moment, Arshdeep appealed that Shanaka had hit the ball and was caught behind the wickets. Umpire Gazi Sohel agreed with the bowler and raised his finger. This meant that Shanaka wasn’t run out but caught behind. When the all-rounder learnt about the decision, he reviewed it.
The TV umpire checked and found that there was no evidence of Shanaka hitting the ball. Therefore, Sohel had to reverse his decision. That’s because, as per the ICC rule book, the first decision stands. Take this for example: if a team needs one run to win and a batter gets stumped out on a wide, the wicket won’t count, and the batting team will win.
Since the decision was reviewed, the ball was adjudged dead, and Shanaka continued to bat. Had the umpire not given Shanaka caught behind, the innings would have ended right there. But when he did, the entire decision hinged upon Shanaka edging the ball and not on him getting run out.
Irfan Pathan also explained why the decision went against India. “Since it has been given out caught behind, and reviewed, the ball is dead and umpire Gazi Sohel makes his point known to team India. first decision always stands and when it is given out by the umpire at the bowler’s end, the ball is dead and that’s why Shanaka escapes from being run out,” he explained on X.
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