Handling the ball: All 3 instances of this rare dismissal in ODIs
‘Handling the ball’ is a form of dismissal that is extremely rare in the game of cricket. In fact, in the five-decade history of ODI cricket, there have been just 3 batsmen who have been dismissed in that fashion. In this article, let us look at those three incidents.
3. Mohinder Amarnath
The first and only Indian cricketer to be dismissed because of handling the ball in ODI cricket is Mohinder Amarnath. This incident occurred way back on 9th February 1986, when India and Australia locked horns against each other at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Amarnath came in with the Indian scorecard reading 34/1. And, off the 32nd delivery that he faced, he was dismissed handling the ball. He scored 15 runs in that match.
Australia beat India with 7 wickets to spare in that encounter. Amarnath played 85 ODI matches for India and scored 1924 runs at an average of 30.53. He also scalped 46 wickets in his ODI career.
2. Daryll Cullinan
On 27th January 1999, Daryl Cullinan became the 2nd cricketer in ODI cricket history to lose his wicket because of handling the ball against the West Indies side. Opening the batting, Cullinan looked fluent in his stay out in the middle. He scored 46 off 64 deliveries and put on a 49-run opening stand with Herschelle Gibbs. But then, off the 4th ball of the 27th over bowled by Keith Arthurton, Cullinan almost inside-edged the ball back onto the stumps. And, in a bid to prevent the ball from hitting the stumps, he stopped the ball with his hand.
South Africa produced an excellent performance in that rubber and beat the West Indies by 55 runs. Cullinan has played 138 ODI matches for the Proteas and has scored 3860 runs at an average of 32.99.
1. Chamu Chibhabha
The third and final player to be dismissed because of handling the ball is Zimbabwe cricketer Chamu Chibhabha. This incident occurred on 20th October 2015 in an ODI match between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan. Batting first, Afghanistan scored 223/8 in their allotted 50 overs.
Zimbabwe’s openers Richmond Mutumbami and Chibhabha were going good, with the scorecard reading 40/0, and that was when disaster struck. Chabhabha etched his name in the history books as the first and only Zimbabwe cricketer to have been dismissed handling the ball. Off the last ball of the 10th over, the ball took the inside edge of Chibhabha’s willow and was about to dislodge his stumps.
But, the Zimbabwe cricketer stopped the ball with his hand and had to walk back to the pavilion after scoring 18 runs. Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan with 6 wickets to spare in that match. Chibhabha has played 107 ODI matches and has scored 2418 runs for Zimbabwe. He scored his runs at an average of 23.02 and a strike rate of 63.13.
