Shaun Pollock shuts conspiracy theory behind Suryakumar Yadav’s catch in T20WC final: ‘Cushion had moved, but…’

Suryakumar Yadav grabbed one of the most important catches in the history of Indian cricket, helping the Men in Blue clinch their second T20 World Cup on Saturday. The stakes were high, with South Africa needing 16 runs off the last over and skipper Rohit Sharma relied on his deputy Hardik Pandya to bowl the all-important final six balls.

Hardik bowled a low full toss on the first delivery, which David Miller lofted straight down the ground as millions of fans waited with bated breaths. One Indian player on the field though – Suryakumar, held his nerves. With an excellent presence of mind, he grabbed a brilliant catch. Surya juggled the ball up and went over the ropes before managing to hold on to it with his feet millimeters away from the boundary cushion.

A couple of videos went viral on social media highlighting how the cushion of the boundary rope, was apparently pushed back. According to ICC’s playing conditions, it is the cushion and not the white line, as seen in the tweet, which is the boundary. Section 19.3 states: “If a solid object used to mark the boundary is disturbed for any reason, then the boundary shall be considered to be in its original position.”

As per section 19.3.2, “If a solid object used to mark the boundary is disturbed for any reason, the object shall be returned to its original position as soon as is practicable; if play is taking place, this shall be as soon as the ball is dead.”

However, South Africa great Shaun Pollock put an end to the conspiracy theories behind the catch and hailed Suryakumar for his brilliant effort to hold on to it.

Here’s what Pollock said

“The catch was fine. The cushion had moved, but that’s in the course of the game. It had nothing to do with Surya. He didn’t stand on the cushion. Brilliant bit of skill,” Pollock said in a video which has gone viral on social media.

Suryakumar received the ‘Best Fielder’ medal from BCCI secretary Jay Shah in the dressing room after India clinched the title. Team India fielding coach T Dilip had started the innovative practice of awarding the Best Fielder as an extra motivation for the players during the 50-overs World Cup in October last year.

“Thank you so much Dilip Sir for giving me this opportunity and collecting this medal from Jay sir,” Surya said, to a rousing cheer from his teammates.