Dinesh Karthik and Baba Aparajith involved in mid-pitch collision that results in run-out

Dinesh Karthik was involved in two run-outs in the space of two balls during the Inter Zonal T20 match between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. While the first was fairly straightforward, the second one involved a mid-pitch collision between Dinesh Karthik and Baba Aparajith.

The incident took place in the first ball of the ninth over which was bowled by KC Cariappa. Karthik tried to dissect the two fielders behind square on the off-side but a good stop from Vinay Kumar and a swift throw from Karun Nair meant the ball was in the keeper’s gloves in a flash.

But the real action happened in the middle of the pitch, where Karthik was looking at the ball didn’t notice his batting partner, Aparajith and ended up clashing with him in an incident that left the latter dazed.

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Here is how it all happened.

To a ball that deserved to be hit for four, Karthik rocked onto the back foot, trying to dissect the two fielders behind square, but unfortunately he wasn’t successful in his attempt.

Excellent work from two Indian internationals resulted in a simple run-out

Karthik was unsuccessful in his attempt to beat the fielders behind square as Vinay Kumar dived to his left and stopped the ball before Karun Nair swivelled and got the ball to the keeper CM Gautam in a flash. With neither batsmen in sight, the keeper had the simple job of breaking the stumps, which he did comfortably.

Before the stumps were uprooted, the two batsmen collided in the middle of the pitch

The real action however was taking place near the middle of the pitch where both batsmen collided. Karthik, who had hit the ball was still looking at it and not where the non-striker was. Aparajith, to his credit tried to move away from a collision but it was too late as the pair collided with the India U-19 on the floor as a result of the collision.

Aparajith came out worse for wear from the collision

Although Karthik was visibly shaken as well, it was Aparajith who looked as though he bore the full brunt of the collision as he went down and stayed there for a while. The umpire and the team physio also came out to check on the batsmen, who thankfully got back on his feet before too long.

Aparajith was eventually given out and he left without even facing a ball

That, however, wasn’t where it all ended as the third umpire took his time to decide which batsman was out. According to the letter of the law, Aparajith was deemed to be the batsman who was short of his crease.

According to Law 38.3 (which batsman is out), it states that

The batsman out in the circumstances of 1 above is the one whose ground is at the end where the wicket is put down.

To determine which of the batsmen were out Law 29.2 (Which is a batsman’s ground) was used.

According to Law 29.2 (c) If there is no batsman in either ground, then each ground belongs to whichever batsman is nearer to it, or, if the batsmen are level, to whichever batsman was nearer to it immediately prior to their drawing level.

In this case, Karthik was closer to the bowler’s end as a result, the other end became Aparajith's ground and since that was where the stumps were broken, he was found short of the crease and given out by the third umpire.

Thankfully for Tamil Nadu, despite this incident, they went on to win the game by four wickets thanks to Karthik’s 45 and a useful cameo by Murugan Ashwin, who was released by the Rising Pune Supergiants ahead of the IPL Auction 2017.