ALMOST A CONTROVERSY: Jadeja tackles Hameed down, Malan returns in time as India effect direct hit

Striving to keep India at bay on Day 5 of The Oval Test, England nearly suffered a horrible run-out where they could’ve easily have lost their in-form No.3 Dawid Malan to a collision between non-striker Haseeb Hameed and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja.

The potential run-out might have given birth to a major controllery on the field as Malan didn’t realise for a bit that his partner was down hurting and kept going for the run. 

Had the left-hander gotten run-out in such a fashion and India gone ahead celebrating the breakthrough, would some have brought opposition skipper Virat Kohli and his team under scanner for unwritten ‘spirit of cricket’?

Dawid Malan reaches ground and averts a potential controversy

The incident is from the final ball of the 50th over of the England second-innings in the fourth Test. 

Facing Jadeja, Malan danced down and hit the delivery to the left of the spinner and the left-hander, very keen to rotate strike, started running towards the other end. 

To his shock, however, his partner Hameed was down on the ground and was in absolutely no position to get to the other end. 

Hameed had been pushed away from his position after an unintended collision with the bowler, who bumped into him while trying to get around the ball and save the single. 

ALSO READ: Twitter user corrects Gavaskar, shows law that says umpires were right

Seeing that Hameed can’t run immediately, Malan had to quickly go back to his mark, which was not easy for him given he had taken a few strides forward and he had to adjust his body’ momentum suddenly. 

Thankfully for him and England, Dawid Malan did eventually made the crease back even as there was a throw from the deep to the keeper’s end. 

Malan basically saying to Kohli “your man moving mad appealing after tackling my man to the deck” #ENGvIND

— Spicy Turner (@spicyturner) September 6, 2021

But the incident could well have triggered a controversy had Malan been run-out because of Jadeja thumping into Hameed, albeit unintentionally. 

As it turned out, Malan’s innings did end with a run-out in a mix up with Hameed only a few overs later. Coincidentally, the bowler involved was Jadeja only. 

#ENGvIND
David Malan Gets Run Out by Mayank Agarwal pic.twitter.com/dFOne2pj9t

— Sports360 (@PhaneshwarSri) September 6, 2021

Malan failed to cover ground after being drawn into a risky single by Hameed as the concerned batter failed to beat a fantastic throw from the cover fielder while wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant did his job to perfection.