Rising stars of Asia Cup between tournament matches India A And Pakistan A This became controversial during an exciting fielding moment on 16 November. Nehal Vadhera And Naman DheerDue to which the Indian players and fans were surprised. The incident focused on Pakistan’s relay catches maaz sadaqatWho was batting strongly, and there has been a recent change in the boundary fielding rules of cricket by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
India A players were shocked after the controversial catch was dismissed in the Asia Cup Rising Stars match.
Sadaqat continued his dominance by scoring a half-century in 31 balls as Pakistan A tried to surpass India A’s modest score of 137 runs. The wicket seemed certain in the 10th over. Suyash Sharma Sadaqat was inspired to lift the ball towards the boundary. Nehal Vadhera After a high shot, he jumped quickly, jumped near the boundary line and threw the ball back into the field.
Naman Dheer Then completed what looked like a textbook relay catch inside the boundary. Sadaqat headed towards the boundary believing he was out, but the umpires asked him to wait. After this, the third umpire declared the catch not out, which shocked the Indian team and many people raised questions on the validity of the catch. captain Jitesh Sharma Immediately sought rule clarification from match officials
Here is the video:
This was all happening in Qatar 👀 and things got pretty heated in between…
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The rule change is behind the dispute
This controversial change was the result of a significant rule change to the boundary fielding laws of cricket introduced by the MCC in June 2025. The amendment to Law 19.5.2 was intended to clarify and tighten the conditions under which air fielders may touch the ball near the boundary, particularly during relay catches. Under the former rule, only the first fielder’s position at the time of grounding mattered, allowing multiple airborne returns out of bounds. The updated law now requires any fielder who touches the ball in the air out of bounds must land inside the field of play and remain inside until the ball is over, otherwise the ball will be deemed to have crossed the boundary.
In the case of Vadhera and Dheer, Vadhera was in the air beyond the boundary line when he made initial contact with the ball and threw it back into the ground, but again fell out of bounds. As per the new rule 19.5.2.1, this resulted in the ball reaching the boundary line despite Dheer making a clean catch inside the field. Therefore, the third umpire’s “not out” decision was legally correct under the updated rules, although it led to debate over whether Wadhera briefly controlled the ball while still in bounds.
Despite the disappointment for India A, the reprieve proved costly as Maaz Sadaqat took advantage of his luck to give Pakistan Shaheens a comfortable eight-wicket win. The win secured Pakistan A’s place in the semi-finals, an important feat that their senior team has been striving to achieve since 2022. The tense encounter also featured heated exchanges between players and umpires and added to the drama of this rising stars’ match, underlining the impact of the rule changes on modern cricket.