Why Jitesh Sharma was not given out after LSG's Digvesh Rathi tried to run RCB captain out at non-striker's end

The league stage of the 2025 Indian Premier League came to a dramatic conclusion at Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium, where Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Lucknow Super Giants by six wickets after being set a daunting 230 to win. RCB, in the process, not only pulled off the third-highest successsful chase in IPL history, they also sealed a top-two finish to setup a Qualifier 1 meeting with Punjab Kings on Thursday.

LSG captain Rishabh Pant bounced back to form after enduring his worst run with the bat in an IPL season by smashing a 54-ball century and finishing unbeaten on 118. And the home team were staring at a victory after Virat Kohli was dismissed in the 12th over for 54, with RCB reduced to 123/4 needing more than a 100 to win.

Pant’s magnificent knock, however, would ultimately go in vain as RCB stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma struck a whirlwind 85 not out off just 33 balls and shared an unbroken 107-run stand for the fifth wicket with Mayank Agarwal, who remained unbeaten on 41 off 23 balls, to help his team chase the target down with eight balls to spare.

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Why Jitesh was not given out despite being run-out at the striker’s end?

The match also witnessed Digvesh Singh Rathi return to action after missing the match against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad due to a one-match suspension, and the leg-spinner – who has been quite the colorful character in his maiden IPL season with his notebook celebrations and run-ins with other players – nearly turned the game around for his team.

Rathi, after all, had dismissed Jitesh at the start of the 17th over when the latter was batting on 49, with the RCB skipper reverse-sweeping the ball straight to backward point. The third umpire decided to have a look to check if the catch was clean or not, and found out that the leg-spinner had committed a no-ball by cutting the return crease with his back foot.

Rathi resorted to an unconventional means of dismissing Jitesh later in the same over by trying to run him out at the non-striker’s end during the final delivery. The leg-spinner had noticed Jitesh backing up a little too much, and decided to penalise him for the same.

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The giant screen at Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium, however, flashed ‘Not Out’ when it came to declaring the TV umpire’s final verdict, with the broadcasters quickly cutting to LSG skipper Pant withdrawing his team’s appeal for the run-out. Pant’s gesture not only led to a hug by Jitesh, it also won him plaudits on social media for maintaining the ‘Spirit of the Game’ and will have also helped his team gain a few Fairplay points.

The TV umpire’s decision, however, would have remained the same even without Pant’s gesture, since Rathi had already completed the delivery stride. Rules state that the non-striker can be run out for leaving the crease only before the bowler reaches the point in his delivery where he is expected to release the ball – which the Marylebone Cricket Club defines as the “moment the bowler’s arm reaches the highest point of his/her normal bowling action in the delivery swing.”

Rathi signed off wicketless for 36 runs at the end of the eventful over, conceding 11 in his final over including a six to Jitesh in the ‘Free Hit’ that brought up his maiden IPL fifty. Jitesh blasted O’Rourke for two fours and as many sixes in a 21-run over next up to bring the equation down to 7 off 12 from 28 off 18, and sealed a memorable triumph for his team with a six off Ayush Badoni in the following over.