Austrian skipper Razmal Shigiwal recently created T20I history as he became the first T20I captain to get out by obstructing the field.
Last Sunday (10th July), Austria and the hosts Czech Republic met at Vinor in the Central Europe Cup. It was a crucial game for both teams as the trophy was at stake for both teams.
It was the last game of that league stage triangular T20I competition, where the home team Czech Republic chose to field first. While Austria managed to score 146/8 in 20 overs, the Czech Republic chased down the target in 18.4 overs after losing four wickets. Opener Sabawoon Davizi (56) and captain Arun Ashokan (45*) played vital roles in that successful chasing.
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With that six-wicket win, the Czech Republic finished that competition with 12 points in four games, exactly similar to Austria. However, the Czech Republic won that tournament title due to finishing with a higher net run rate (1.020) than the Austrian team (0.860). The other team in this competition, Luxembourg, lost all four games of this tournament and finished without opening their accounts in the points table.
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During the fifth over of the match, the Austrian captain Razmal Shigiwal (10) was given the obstructing the field out. The 38-year-old right-arm off-spinner Tripurari Lal was bowling that over when Shigiwal mistakenly caught the running ball and threw that to the bowler just after defending it during the fourth ball of that over. The Czech Republic players couldn’t waste the time appealing for that, while Shigiwal realized his blunder later. There was no escape for Shigiwal as the skipper was given out for obstructing the field.
Watch this clip here to see the dismissal : Razmal Shigiwal Dismissal
Wait a minute! Wasn’t it similar to the handled the ball dismissal?
If you are now thinking that it was a similar dismissal of “handled the ball”, well you are also correct. This dismissal was previously known as handled the ball. However, since October 2017, handled the ball has been removed from the Laws of Cricket as this dismissal also became a part of the obstructing the field. That’s why we are now calling it obstructing the field dismissal as there is no more handled the ball.
Watch this detailed video to know more about the latest law for obstructing the field (check from 1:00 to know about the latest law of handled the ball)
Razmal Shigiwal: More detailed records of his obstructing the field dismissal
In T20I history, Razmal Shigiwal became the third cricketer to lose a wicket through obstructing the field. English cricketer Jason Roy was the first batter to experience the obstructing the field dismissal in T20I history (67 vs South Africa at Taunton on 23rd January 2017). Later, in 2019, Maldives cricketer Hassan Rasheed also became the victim of obstructing the field in T20I history (16 vs Qatar at Al Amerat on 23rd January 2019).
Meanwhile, in international cricket history, Razmal Shigiwal became the second captain to experience obstructing the field. Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was the first captain in international cricket history to record the obstructing the field dismissal during the 2006 Peshawar ODI against India (6th February 2006).
More fun fact
Former English captain Graham Gooch (133 vs Australia at Manchester in June 1993) and former Australian skipper Steve Waugh (47 vs India at Chennai in March 2001) were the first two captains in Test cricket history to lose their wickets through the handled the ball dismissals. Among the 10 handled the ball dismissals in international cricket history, those were the only two examples of handled the ball dismissals of the captains.
