Women's U-19 Loss Sparks JSCA Probe Request Over Scoring Blunder

The Jharkhand State Cricket Association has written to the BCCI seeking an inquiry into a scoring mistake that it says affected the state's women's Under-19 team in a T20 championship pre-quarterfinal against Uttarakhand. The team went down by a single run, and the association says the error was the reason.

The JSCA has asked the BCCI to look into the matter and make a fair ruling.

The contest was held in Nagpur last week. Jharkhand were set 135 runs and stood at 127 for 7 after 19 overs. With six balls left, they required 8 runs.

The first three deliveries of the final over produced three runs, so the requirement became 5 from three balls. The fourth ball saw Laxmi Kumari run out attempting a double. The batter had completed one run before being dismissed, but the scorers did not register it and recorded only the run out. Jharkhand therefore needed 5 from two balls.

The next ball was a wide bowled by Kanika Negi, which made it 4 from two. Isha, the number 10 batter, was run out trying for two on the following delivery. This time the single was registered, and 3 runs were needed from the last ball.

Bhagat was facing that final ball when Ishika Deepak was run out trying to come back for two. The single was added, but Jharkhand finished one run short.

The JSCA maintains that the run missed on the fourth ball became the difference between victory and defeat.

Head coach Jaskaran Singh has also sought a probe. “This was the first time our women's Under-19 team had reached the knockout phase, so this result is deeply disappointing,” he said. “Had it been a league match, things could have turned out differently. Tournaments like this are very important for the players. We hope the matter is investigated so that similar errors can be prevented in future. Before the complaint, we checked the final-over video within the team and it was clear that the scorers had made a mistake. Right after the presentation, we informed match referee Anupa Narvekar.”