Following the public controversy over Angkrish Raghuvanshi's 26 April 2026 'obstructing the field' dismissal, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) — guardians of the Laws of Cricket — issued a formal clarification backing the third umpire's call. The MCC stated that Raghuvanshi had wilfully obstructed by taking a route that wasn't the most direct way to the other end, drifting off the strip and into the path of Mohammed Shami's throw.
The MCC's clarification was unusually direct. The body's typical practice is to refrain from commenting on individual umpire decisions, but the public scale of the Raghuvanshi controversy — the season's biggest umpiring story — produced an exception. The MCC's formal note set out the Law 37 reasoning: a batter completing a run is required to take the most direct route to the crease; deviating from that route in a manner that interposes the body in line with a fielder's throw constitutes wilful obstruction.
The note also referenced that Raghuvanshi was just the fourth player in IPL history to be given out 'obstructing the field', and that the rarity of the dismissal does not by itself reduce its applicability where the Law's conditions are met.
The clarification did not change the on-field result — the dismissal had already been formally recorded — but it lent senior procedural backing to third umpire Rohan Pandit's call and reduced public pressure on the IPL's umpiring panel.
26 April 2026 — Raghuvanshi given out obstructing the field by third umpire Rohan Pandit
Sustained public controversy through late April
MCC issues formal clarification backing the call
Note states Raghuvanshi wilfully obstructed by taking a non-direct route
Confirms Raghuvanshi as just the fourth player in IPL history to be given out obstructing the field
Clarification does not change the on-field result but reduces public pressure on the umpiring panel
MCC formally backed third umpire Rohan Pandit's ruling that Raghuvanshi was out under Law 37 (Obstructing the Field). The clarification noted the deviation from the direct line and the resulting interposition with Mohammed Shami's throw.
Gujarat Titans vs Rajasthan Royals
29 May 2026
The Qualifier 2 toss between Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals at Mullanpur had to be conducted twice after match referee Prakash Bhatt failed to hear Riyan Parag's call — a visible frustration for Shubman Gill who appeared to have won the original toss before the do-over.
Lucknow Super Giants vs Kolkata Knight Riders
26 April 2026
Kartik Tyagi bowled two beamers in the final over of LSG's chase but was allowed to continue — umpires called only one dangerous — sparking IPL fury.
Various county and representative sides
1864-06-01
The legalisation of overarm bowling in 1864 created an immediate grey zone: how high could the arm go, and at what point did a fast delivery become an illegal throw? Through the 1860s English cricket struggled with this question as a succession of fast bowlers developed actions that umpires suspected but rarely no-balled, creating a climate of suspicion that would recur in every generation of cricket thereafter.